A New Hope
by Lily Handle
Summary: Dr. Hope Chandler has been developing theories on the Xgene for a few years, quietly. When Charles Xavier shows at her door offering her the chance to do a more indept study on the gene how can Hope resist? Because it may cost her, her life.
1. Chapter 1

A New Hope

Chapter One

By: Lily Handle

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A.N: This is a rewrite of the original A New Hope. If you've read the old, you'll notice I fixed some things and reworked a little of the plot. For those of you where this is your first time reading the fic, please enjoy. If you have questions or just want to talk to me, email me at: Please read and review.

Lily

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Dr. Hope Chandler was running late, once again. It wasn't that her alarm clock hadn't gone off, it wasn't that she couldn't find her keys and it wasn't that she couldn't find her hospital i.d. Once again she'd filled in for another doctor on the trauma team. Just her luck Dr. Kincaid worked night shifts and on top of Hope's afternoon shift the night shift had been a little much. In other words, Hope had slept in. Now she was trying to make it on time to Charity Hospital where she was employed as a member of the trauma team. Hope quickly tossed on some clothes, she preferred to change into scrubs when she got to the hospital anyway. Hope tossed on her white lab coat, grabbed her keys and started for the door when the phone rang.

"Arg!" Hope yelled, trying to debate between the phone and leaving. Hope's little inner voice was telling her to answer the phone, it could be someone important, but then Hope's little logical voice was telling her to run to work. She looked between the door and the phone, debating, "I'm going to regret this!" and Hope lunged for the phone. "Hello?"

"Hope? Hope Chandler?" Hope frown and tilted her head like the dog, the voice on the other end of the phone was eerily familiar.

"Yes, can I help you?" Hope checked her watch, yup, it was official, she was late.

"Hello Hope, I don't know if you remember me or not, my name's Hank McCoy." Instantly the name tipped Hope's memories, her years in college, late nights in the library and the endless tomes of anatomy books.

"Hank? What are you doing calling?" Well, if you're gonna be late, Hope thought, grabbing a near by chair and sitting by the phone.

"I read one of your articles, peaked my interest and wanted to catch up with you."

"I imagine you're one of the only persons who has, not everyone reads the Completely Obscure Medical Journal." Hank chuckled and Hope found herself smiling, even though she could hear her job slipping through her fingers.

"Well, actually I'm not the only one. My boss is interested in your work." Hope felt her heart jump with excitement. Maybe Hank's boss was a rich doctor and he'd give her funds for her research. Oh lord, that was a dream come true for her. She wanted nothing more than to quit her crazy hours, spend more time with books and throwing ideas around.

"Uh, well, that's great Hank. Um, who's your boss?" Hope tried to be casual, but the butterflies in her stomach were about the size of Great Danes.

"Do you know Charles Xavier?"

"Know of him?" Hope gaped at the phone, "There's a children's wing at the hospital named after him, he's the richest guy in town and is only one of the most popular topics in the society section of the news paper. Of course I know of him!"

Hank chuckled at the other end of the line, "When do you have lunch, Hope?"

"At two," Hope said absently, reading the page on her beeper. Two gun shot wounds, and where was she? "Hank, I'm sorry, I'd love to play catch up, but I'm running late. It was great to talk with you." Hope jumped to her feet, "Sorry." And she hung up, grabbed her purse and sprinted for her car.

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Hope threw herself into a seat behind the reception counter, dropped her head onto the tabletop and groaned.

"Bad day?" The morning shift receptionist James Boscoe asked.

"This is my second," Hope thought about it, "No third pair of scrubs I've been through today."

"Aw, poor baby."

"Shut up, James," Hope groaned again, lifting her head from her arms.

"Well, looks like your days not going to get better because that looks to be the Chief of Staff headed towards you at a nice clip."

Hope quickly straightened up, "Get me a file, quick, I got to look busy." James casually handed over a file and Hope began to pretend to scan the information while watching Chief of Staff Adams walk towards her.

"Dr. Chandler," He said stopping in front of the desk, "I'd like to see you in my office, please." Hope looked up from the file she wasn't reading and pretended to be casual.

"What for, sir, I've got patients to go see."

"Give your patients to one of the other doctors for now, you'll be back soon enough." Hope thought it was odd the way Dr. Adams kept glancing over his shoulder, towards his office with a frown on his face. Hope looked up at James, who subtly shrugged.

"Alright, here James, give these to whoever doesn't have enough work," Hope said, getting up and walking around the counter to follow Dr. Adams to his office. Dr. Adams's office was a comfortable room at the end of the hallway from the trauma center, with a set of chairs and a desk where Dr. Adams lorded over the staff of Charity's trauma center. Dr. Adams was a nice guy, when he wasn't trying to increase efficiency while keeping cost down. Hope found many of his methods for that took a lot away from the patients care, but she couldn't object, she wanted to keep her job.

"Why don't you take a seat, Doctor?" Dr. Adams suggested as he took his own seat behind the desk. Hope wondered why Dr. Adams was being so pleasant towards her while taking a seat across from him. He had never been this personable before, just cold and distant during staff meetings, and often when he worked in the ward he was rude to patients and nurses. Hope honestly disliked the man.

"Is there a reason you wanted to see me, sir?" Hope asked in her most polite tone, one she used when she actually despised the person she was talking to, a tone mostly reserved for lawyers and telemarketers.

"Charles Xavier asked for your records," Dr. Adams said in a matter of fact tone that had Hope's jaw dropping open in surprise.

She quickly recovered though, "Personal or professional?" She asked, mentally crossing her fingers in the hope that it was professional. Come on, she thought, dream job please be right around the corner.

"Both," Dr. Adams frowned at Hope like she'd done something wrong, "He seemed very interested in you."

"Well," Hope felt herself blushing, "I feel flattered, sir."

"He's coming tomorrow to talk with me, and then he wishes to have lunch with you."

Hope wanted to jump onto Dr. Adams desk and jump around screaming like a maniac she was so excited, instead she just smiled with polite interest and said, "Oh really?"

"Yes," Now Dr. Adams glared at her with his most intimidating stare, "You're not going to be anything but your best tomorrow, Doctor. Mr. Xavier is a very important patron in the hospital; his yearly Christmas donations have kept this hospital in the best equipment there is. If we lose those donations, then you lose your job, and that's a promise."

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A section of the wall in Charles Xavier's office sunk into a recessed part, slid down and disappeared. In its place a flat plasma screen lifted up and slid seamlessly into the place before flickering on. Hank McCoy had seen this trick many times; the screen was used often when the instructors of the Institute gathered in the office. Hank was sitting in one of the large armchairs, Logan leaned against the far wall near the door, and Ororo sat comfortably on the arm of Charles wheelchair.

"This is Doctor Hope Renee Chandler," Charles started as the portrait of the woman with shoulder length brown hair and smiling brown eyes appeared, next to the picture were the traditional status information, age, weight and height. Hank smiled at Hope's picture, it had been a long time since he had seen her. They had met in college Biology, Hank taking it to off set all the Chemistry classes and Hope taking it on her way to a medical degree. They'd run into each other again in Anatomy, had lunch together and decided to form a study group. A fast and strong friendship had formed in the late night study sessions, and Hank had trusted Hope with his biggest secrete which turned out to be a very smart decision. When he had stumbled upon the article title "X-gene Theories" he hadn't expect the author to be Hope Chandler, and when he had shown the article to Charles this was not the result he had expected. Everyone was gathered to decide if they should take the next step and see if Hope could become an instructor here.

"She's currently a doctor at Charity hospital. Her specialty is trauma surgery, but she works with the trauma team. Her family is the Chandler Shipping Company family, and her one brother, Michael Chandler is a know carrier of the X-gene," Charles continued, "Dr. Chandler has recently published an article on the X-gene and its properties. She hopes to find the impact of the gene on modern medicine. I believe she would be beneficial to have here at the Institute. Any objections?"

"The students shouldn't be lab rats for some doctor," Logan said, glaring at the screen.

"I have talked with those the doctor's theories are based on," Charles said, turning on the lights by pointing a finger towards the switch, "Her test are fairly painless and she never administers them if they say no. She never pushes either."

"Have you talked with the brother?" Ororo asked, rising from the arm of Charles' chair.

"The brother refuses to talk with me, but he promises not to tell his sister about my visit." Charles turned towards Hank, "You know her better than anyone here, Hank, what can you tell us?"

"She's not like other doctors, certainly. Even in college all she talked about was how she was going to help heal the world," Logan snorted and Hank glared at him, "Her views have probably changed a bit, but she doesn't have it in her to betray people."

"I still don't think we should just let her walk in and make herself at home," Logan frown, "You're going to talk with this doctor tomorrow, right, Charles?" Charles nodded, "Let us all come with, Hank here can wear a holo-watch, and we can all check out this doctor."

"Any objections to wearing a watch, Hank?" Charles asked, turning towards Hank.

"For this, no," Hank smiled, "I'd like to see Hope again."

"Then it's agreed by all?" Everyone in the room nodded, "Tomorrow we will all see just what this doctor is about."

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Author's Note: I like this chapter, a lot. It's much better than the first, but I wish I could get my mind around the sequel. If any of you fans out there would tell me what you'd like to see in what's tentatively titled, Hope Returns, let me know. You can email me a 


	2. Chapter 2

A New Hope

Chapter Two

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Another chapter in the rewrite. Please read and review.

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Hope smoothed an imaginary wrinkle from the simple black skirt she had decided to wear for the lunch with Charles Xavier, but he had chosen the restaurant. Hope had found a message waiting on her answering machine when she had gotten home from her shift. Hank was the one to leave the message, saying to meet at Luigi's at one, all she would have to do is say her name to the owner and she would be shown to the table. Luigi's was an upscale Italian place that was within walking distance of the hospital, the place catered the yearly Hospital's Patrons Ball, and had some of the best pasta alfredo this side of the Atlantic. Hope personally felt out of place here, it was just too fancy. _You've been eating at the hospital's cafeteria too long, _she thought picking up the glass of water before her and staring into her reflection. _You use to eat at places like this all the time, you just haven't been home to see Mom and Dad for awhile._

"Dr. Chandler?" Hope glanced up and instantly was on her feet.

"Mr. Xavier," Hope said, "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there. Yes, I'm Dr. Chandler." She held out a hand, trying to fight down the butterflies in her stomach, which had turned into frogs. She smiled politely as she shook hands with Xavier, praying her palms weren't clammy or that he wouldn't notice her hand trembled a bit.

"Please, Doctor, let me introduce you to the rest of the staff," Xavier gestured over his shoulder, Hope followed the gesture and couldn't believe she had missed the three people standing behind Charles.

"Hank!" Hope exclaimed, instantly recognizing her college friend. She stepped around the table, quickly crossed to him and hugged him tightly. "Oh, it's good to see you again."

Hank wrapped one arm around her shoulders, "You look well, Hope."

Hope took a step back, her arms still loosely around him, "So do you. You still get a Chandler Christmas card, don't you?"

"One somehow manages to find me where ever I go, but business first. I'll do the introductions, if you don't mind, Professor." Hank turned Hope towards the other two staff members, "This is Ororo Monroe," Hank said. A tall woman with snow white hair held out her hand, which Hope took, amazed by how much like an African Goddess she looked.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Ororo said with an interested smile.

"Thank you," Hope said then turned towards the remaining man. He was a little taller than Hope was, with dark hair and brown eyes. He looked like a frown was perpetually stuck on his face, but he was working up something like a smile for her.

"This is Logan," Hank said.

"Just Logan?" Hope asked, holding out her hand.

"Yeah," Logan gave it one quick shake then returned his hands to his pockets. Hope mentally frowned, he was certainly a rude one, she thought.

"Well, Doctor, shall we order some lunch?" Charles offered, motioning to the table.

"Oh, that would be lovely, I haven't eaten since my shift started," Hope chatted as she took her seat. Hank sat next to her on her left, and Charles took her right. Ororo and Logan sat opposite.

"You like your work, Dr. Chandler?" Charles asked while looking over the menu.

"Yes, for all the stress it causes, I do enjoy it," She replied, smiling over the top of her menu.

"What made you want to go into medicine?"

"Oh, that's a little harder to answer." Hope sighed, folding her menu and propping her chin on her hands, "I think it was because I didn't want to take over my father's company, my sister does that. I liked helping people, I think, I was born with a natural instinct to heal."

"Compassionate soul, Doctor?" Charles offered, smiling.

"I try to be," She smiled back, "Emergency doctors have a chance to treat every type of person, and I liked be able to help every type of person."

"You're a crusader," Logan said stiffly, and Hope frowned at him.

"No, I wouldn't say that, Mr. Logan," She replied, just as stiffly, "I know I can't help everyone who comes through the doors, but at least I get a chance to try. That doesn't sound like a crusade, more like a doctor's reality."

"Well put, Hope," Hank said, grinning. There was a pause as everyone placed their orders with an austere looking waiter.

"Now, Dr. Chandler," Charles said, folding his hands on the table, "What got you interested in the X-gene?"

"A case came into Charity a few years back," Hope started, the memory drawing her back a little unwillingly, "A young boy, probably no more than sixteen. He'd been hit by a car, when we gave him morphine for the pain, he went into cardiac arrest. Due to his mutant DNA the morphine stopped his heart, even a small dose was lethal."

"I remember that," Ororo said, "Tragic."

"Yes, I started looking into mutant DNA and the anomalous gene, the X-gene shortly after that. I hope to fund a clinic that will specialize in mutant care, later in life though. Right now, my goals are the research."

"Your research is very basic, though, Doctor," Charles said, "I mean no offence by that, but I only bring it up to make a point. I've come to offer you a research opportunity."

"What do you mean, Mr. Xavier?" Hope asked, but was forced to wait for an answer as the waiter reappeared with their dishes.

"I would like to fund your research," Charles smiled, "For a time to be determined later." Hope paused, her mouth hanging open and her fork half way to her mouth.

"Pardon?"

Charles smiled, "I guess I should explain myself. I myself know a few mutants, and your work could be very good for their well being later in life. I believe you have trouble finding mutants for your research? And with your busy work schedule, you have trouble finding the time to talk with them."

"How do you know all of this?" Hope asked, surprised at how much this man knew when he claimed to only have recently taken interest in her work.

"I've been talking to those you've been talking to," Charles explained, "They speak highly of you."

"Oh, well, Mr. Charles, I'd like it very much if you would like to contribute to my research," Hope said, regaining her composure, "I can't make any spectacular promises that I'll be the cover article of Time one day or a Nobel prize winner, but I can promise that I'll do what I can with your money."

"There are certain terms to this, Dr. Chandler," Charles said, fixing her with a serious look, "If you do take the money, all of your research will be done out of my Institute. You'll have to adjust your schedule to be able to work nights there and your complete discretion is essential."

"I work shifts that can easily be twenty four hours, Mr. Xavier. As a resident I'm almost always on call, mornings and nights, I don't think I can play around with my hours like that. As for discretion, you don't have to worry about that. As you've read my work, you'll see I refer to those involved as subjects, no names."

"If your schedule becomes a problem, I have another option for you," Charles said slowly. Hope was surprised when everyone at the table looked towards Charles, a little astonishment in them. What was going on? Hope wondered. "We are in need of a trained medical professional at my Institute, you'd live on grounds, paid a salary if you'd like along with the research grants, and you'd have easy access to subjects."

"Quit? You'd like me to quit my job to become a school nurse? Mr. Xavier, I don't think I'll be able to do that," Hope said, a little offended at the idea. She didn't exactly need research grants, her family was very well off, her salary was respectable, and money wasn't a problem. Grants would be good, a little more money to spend on looking for mutants, bribing them to talk even, but not essential.

"Excuse me Doctor, I might have been a little hasty in my explanation unfortunately I have a business meeting to attend. I would like to speak with you more, Dr. Chandler, if that's alright."

"Yes," Hope said, unable to deny her curiosity about Mr. Xavier and his offer, "I would like that as well."

"Tomorrow, after your shift," Charles said, and then pulled back from the table, "Thank you for your time, Doctor."

"It was nice to meet you, Mr. Xavier," Hope turned to Hank, "It was very good to see you again, Hank."

"We'll have coffee sometime before you start work, Hope." Hank hugged her again, "I'll call you."

"Very nice to meet you, Doctor," Ororo said, this time Hope was the one to offer her hand.

"A pleasure," Hope answered politely. Logan nodded at her, then helped steer Charles's wheel chair of the restaurant while Hope stood, frozen in place. Amazing, she just had lunch with Charles Xavier, he'd offered her money and a job. What fate was smiling down on her today?

------

"A job offer here?" Logan growled, "What are you thinking, Charles?"

"That Dr. Chandler could change the way the world will see us," Charles said, "She's a non-mutant doctor, a member of a respected Southern family, and her work is revolutionary. She's a humanitarian now, if she spent time with the students here, she can only become more dedicated."

"And if she spills the beans on what's going on here?" Logan challenged, "We're screwed, and she's still a rich doctor."

"Hope wouldn't do that," Hank said in defense, "She's not likely to give up her job at Charity for a position as a nurse here, anyway. She worked hard for it."

"Ororo, you've been silent," Charles said, "What do you think of the doctor?"

"There's a chance she could do what Logan suggested, but when she comes here tomorrow, we can show her what she'll be working with. Let her meet a few of the students, see a training session with the newer students. If she can't handle it, erase her memory," Ororo suggest, pacing the room.

"A well thought out idea, Ororo, thank you." Charles looked towards Logan, "You see any flaws, Logan?"

"Don't trust her," He muttered softly, "I ain't got a good feeling about this."

------

Author's Note: Another chapter for the rewrite, I'm trying to work on this, while also working on Hope Returns, some times one is easier to write than the other. Thanks for reading and being patient.


	3. Chapter 3

A New Hope

Chapter Three

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: (This would be the second rewrite of Chapter three, amazing isn't it?) Thanks to all of you who have reviewed. Please enjoy this chapter, read and review.

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There was no explaining it, Hope though, pulling off a blood coated pair of gloves. How a kid, barely old enough to drive could deal drugs, and run with a gang. She'd just finished another exhausting shift, finished it with a DOA gun shot victim. Her day hadn't started all that well either, her mother had called asking when she'd be able to visit, which led to a conversation that had almost made Hope late for work, again. Her timing had been excellent, though, she'd arrived at the hospital at the same time as an ambulance and gotten pulled into the case. It was a forty something man with a heart attack, no need for her actually since she was a trauma surgeon, and Hope had politely bowed out of the case. She'd been called in for this case to open the boy's chest and stop the bleeding around his heart. It hadn't worked, or saved the boy, but Hope had tried her best and sometimes that was all she could do.

"Hey, Hope," one of the nurses, Berry, stuck her head in the trauma room, "There are two guys here asking for you."

"Are they dressed like this one?" Hope asked, pointing down at the dead gang member.

"No, one of them keeps scowling though, and the other says his name is Hank," Berry said, looking over her shoulder towards the waiting room and front desk, "The one who's scowling probably would be cute if he stopped looking so mean."

"Hank? Oh, right, I have a meeting," Hope sighed, "I'll have to bring my charts home."

"You want me to tell them to wait in chairs?" Berry asked while Hope rubbed her neck, debating.

"No, no, I'll go talk with them," Hope patted her hair, "Do I have blood anywhere?"

"Shoes, but you have another pair in your locker right?"

"No, these are the other pair, first pair has someone's lower bowel on them" Hope closed her eyes, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck." Hope smoothed her hair down, and then stepped outside the trauma room. She could see them both, Hank and Mr. Logan, leaning against the front counter, looking around.

"Hank, I didn't expect to see you so soon," Hope said as she started towards them. At least not until I got a chance to shower and change, she thought while smiling.

"Ah, yes. Sorry, Hope, you'll need one of us to come with you to open the gate to the Institute. Mr. Logan drove me as a favor," Hank explained.

"Oh, I see. Well," Hope looked up at Logan, "Thank you, both of you. Hank, I have a few things to finish here before I can leave, but if you want you can wait in the lounge." Hope placed a hand on Hank's shoulder, "Follow me." The lounge was tucked into a back corner of the Emergency ward; it had two run down couches, an ancient coffee machine and lockers for all the residents inside.

"Nice place," Hank said dryly, "I must get the name of your decorator."

"You're lucky, we just had the bullet holes patched up," Hope said, "You want coffee?"

"That thing works?"

Hope glanced at the coffee machine, "Maybe, it seemed to be working this morning."

"No thanks, I'll pass. I'll just sit and wait for you to finish with your rounds, do doctors do rounds anymore?"

"Yeah, we do," Hope smiled at Hank, "I'll go pass on my cases and then we can go to the Institute." Hope ducked back out the door, "Is Dr. Dominguez here yet?" She asked the nurses behind the front counter.

"Ah, Dr. Chandler, can't stop thinking about me?" Dr. Rodger Dominguez asked, smiling charmingly.

"Can't stop thinking about how if I don't get going I could blow my second interview with Charles Xavier," Hope said, walking behind the counter and picking up her charts.

"A second interview? When was the first?" Another nurse, Lola asked, walking past.

"Yesterday, now, I've got three up in recovery," Hope explained while Dr. Dominguez looked over her shoulder. She went through the cases she had been shuffled to her, "Alright, anything else that comes through those doors, as of now, is yours."

"Right-o, Doctor C. Now, get going, don't want to keep Daddy Warbucks waiting," Dr. Dominguez said with a wink.

"Honestly, it's nothing," Hope muttered, walking around the counter and back into the lounge. She smiled at Hank when she stepped inside, "Right, let me get my shoes out of my locker and then we can go."

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"Hey, look," Kitty said to Rouge as they walked through the front parlor of the Institute, "I've never seen that car before. You think it's a new student?" Kitty darted to the window and peered out it, trying to get a closer look.

"Maybe the Professor got a new car," Rogue said, rolling her eyes, "Come on, Kitty, if we're late, Wolverine's goin' to kill us."

"But, look, they've stopped," Kitty looked over her shoulder and frowned at Rogue, then turned back to look out the window again, "It's Mr. McCoy, and he's got a woman with him." Despite herself Rogue moved closer to look out the window.

"She looks like a doctor," Rogue said on a frown, "You think she's a friend of his?"

"I don't know, oh, they're coming in." Kitty and Rogue backpedaled away from the window, and almost ran into Storm and the Professor.

"Don't you two have a session to get to?" The Professor asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Sorry Professor," Kitty said, "We just wanted to see…"

"We're goin', Professor," Rouge said, grabbed Kitty's arm and then dragged her away. "You wanna get us in trouble?"

"Well, I was just trying to find out who was visiting," Kitty said, jerking her arm away.

"If it was someone important, don't you think the Professor would have told us?" Rogue muttered, "Come on, we're gonna be late."

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"You have a very lovely school here," Hope said, turning away from the window she was looking out of. Charles had greeted her at the door, which surprised Hope. She had expected being led to the man, and then being questions through a stiff interview. Instead he had smiled warmly and chatted companionably as she was led to his office. While she was still nervous about the interview, she was mostly relaxed and at ease, which probably had been Xavier's intention all a long.

"Thank you, Doctor," Charles said, settled comfortably behind his desk, "A lot of time was spent on making sure they stay that way."

"Are the students that rowdy?" Hope asked, walking away from the window and towards a seat across from Charles.

"They have their moments," Charles smiled, "I think you'll enjoy meeting them."

"It's rumored you have twenty something students. Am I to meet them all?" Hope asked while she sat down.

"Only a select few." Charles leaned forward, "I know I asked earlier for your complete discretion, but I must ask again. You won't speak of anything that you see here to the public?"

"Of course not." Hope heard a door open behind her, and turned to glance over her shoulder, "Hello Hank," She said, getting up from her chair, "Is there a problem?"

"Actually, Dr. Chandler, this is Beast, one of the mutants I mentioned I knew," Charles said from behind her.

Hope looked back to him, astonished, "A mutant, I already knew that," Hope looked back towards Hank after Charles nodded, "Hank, don't you remember telling me?"

"I had my mutation under control for a while, I'm a different person now, Hope." Hank held his wrist out and took of his watch. Instantly the image of her friend from high school was replaced with a beast. Blue hair, yellow eyes, and hunched knuckle dragging frame was not what Hope was expecting and gasped out of natural surprise. The images of her college friend, who she had spent hours with in the library was gone, replaced by something that looked like he came from a pages of a horror comic. Hope didn't know what to feel first, she was afraid, anyone would be when faced with this, but she also wanted to race across the room and hug Hank. She couldn't believe her friend was gone, but the disbelief would have to wait, there was a look of resigned pain on Hank's face.

"I'm sorry," Hope said quickly, reaching a hand out towards Hank, "You took me by surprise."

"It's alright, Hope, I surprise most people," Hank said, "What do you think of me now, Hope?"

"I'm curious," Hope said slowly, dipping into her mental research files, "It's a very rare type of X-gene, you have."

"Dr. Chandler, we're not asking about your view points on him as a doctor or researcher," Charles elaborated, "What's your human reaction?" Hope looked at Charles, who was watching her intently, as if he could see right into her head. She took a deep breath, pushed the doctor part of her away and reached for the part of her that was Hank's old friend. She then looked back at him.

"I can't believe it, Hank, you never told me it could get this bad," Hope said, walking towards him, "I can't believe you haven't called me or asked for my help."

"A very human reaction Dr. Chandler," Charles said from behind her, but Hope was focused on Hank.

"You did have to go through this alone you know," She said, and then hugged him.

"I'd say you'd been waiting to be human for a while, Doctor."

Hope, straightened, turned back to Charles and smiled, "I know a test when I see on, Mr. Xavier, but you're right. I've spent hours with mutants who's mutations are not as noticeable as Hank's and wished for a second I could stop being a researcher and be someone human for them."

"Can you be both if you were asked to be?" Charles asked.

"I don't know," Hope said, letting Hank lead her to the couch.

"If you did work here, you would take care of the students as a doctor, work as a researcher, but you'd also have to be approachable for the students," Charles said "I've read your record from Charity, as well as the school where you were an intern. All your teachers and co-workers speak highly of your ability to think clearly and your ability to reach out to patients."

"I try," Hope said, wondering why Charles was tooting her horn instead of Hope listing all those things, "It's easy to forget the patients are people sometimes, but as a surgeon, I get more one on one time with my patients."

"You spend time in the emergency ward when you're a surgeon, why?"

"I'm a member of the trauma team, I'm also study trauma surgery on a fellowship. I spend my time down there just because they find me charming." Hope smiled, "Isn't that why you hung around me so often, Hank?"

"Of course," Hank smiled back at her.

"Do you have any training as a field paramedic?" Charles asked.

"I've done a few ride-alongs with the paramedics at Charity, field medicine isn't my specialty." Hope jumped as an alarm went off, startling her to her feet, "Who's crashing?" she said out of habit, then blushed, "Sorry, natural reaction."

"It's quiet alright, Dr. Chandler," Charles said, "Hank, can you see what the problem is?"

"Of course," Hank rose from the couch, "I'll be back soon," He said to Hope and then left through another door.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is the alarm for?" Hope asked, moving back to the chair in front of Charles's desk.

"It's a medical alarm," Charles explained, "A student who is in need of medical care goes to the Infirmary and activates the alarm, or an instructor brings the students in and activates the alarm."

"Is it serious?" Hope asked, wondering about what might be wrong.

"No, the alarm isn't one that's serious," Charles titled his head, "Would you like to see what's going on, Dr. Chandler?"

"You'd let me? I mean, I was just suppose to be here for an interview," Hope stuttered, "If it's nothing serious then, I wouldn't be needed, would I?" She certainly wanted to see if the student was all right, it was an urge that came from so many years as a doctor, but so far it wasn't her place.

"Doctor, I don't think there will be a problem if you just come to observe," Charles pushed back from his desk, "If you'll follow me." Hope got up from her chair and followed Charles to a hidden elevator in the wall behind his desk.

"Impressive," Hope commented as the doors slid close.

"My little escape route," Charles explained, "But the school has many levels. The students bed rooms are on the second floor, west wing, and the staff lives in the east wing. First floor is mainly the living area, you have television room, a study, dinning room, etcetera."

"Do you have a cleaning crew? Of any other staff besides the teachers?" Hope asked, watching the set of lights above the door slowly move from left to right.

"The students are in charge of cleaning up after themselves and their rooms."

"A large responsibility," Hope said as the doors opened, and Charles took the lead off the elevator. The hallway down here wasn't as well made up as the ones up stairs, Hope noticed right away. The one down here was smooth metal walls and large bright florescent lights spaced evenly along the ceiling. Hope watched a section of the wall slide open, and Hank stick his head out.

"Ah, I thought you might bring her down," He said, "Well, Hope, come in, I think there might be a chance of fractured ribs."

"Is it that serious?" Hope asked, walking into a dream.

"Dr. Chandler, this is the Infirmary," Charles said.

"It's incredible," Hope gapped, "Do all three beds have a complete monitoring system in them?"

"Yes," Charles edged around Hope, towards the middle bed where a girl sat, an ice pack pressed to her side. It was the first time Hope had noticed the girl, which was embarrassing. She should have noticed the patient right away instead of being taken in by the advanced technology of the Infirmary. "Care to tell me what happened Jubilee?"

"One of the floor pieces malfunctioned," the girl said, "It hit me."

"Are you having any trouble breathing?" Hope asked, looking around for a stethoscope. "Do you have…" Hope started to ask then Hank held one out to her, "Uh, thank you. Well, Miss. Jubilee, any trouble breathing?" Hope gently took the ice pack from the girl, then pressed the stethoscope and listened.

"It kinda knocked the wind out of me," Jubilee said reluctantly.

"Did you take any x-rays?" Hope asked, looking over her shoulder to Hank.

"Two, one from the side, one from the front," Hank said, then reached behind him and picked up an envelope. "Here you go." Hope pulled them out, picked the front view one and held it up to the light.

"Yup, hair line fracture," Hope moved to stand next to Jubilee's bed and held it up over her head, pointing out the small, jagged line, "Third from the top, looks like you fractured your rib."

"What does that mean?" Jubilee asked, sounding worried.

Hope gave the girl a reassuring smile, "That means you get out of gym for the next three weeks," Hope slid the x-rays back into the folder, "When you go out, wrap an ace bandage around the spot, put ice on it, and sit up straight. Prop yourself up when you sleep too, laying down puts more pressure on it and will hurt more."

"Can I have something for the pain?"

"Tylenol, Advil," Hope looked at Charles, "Which ever one you have around. Do you have a doctor's notice I can write for her?"

"You know, Doctor, I think we do. You have your research grants, I'll send you a check you can deposit within the week, and if you decide to take more time for your research, there's a job for you here at the Institute."

Hope went dead still, "Really?" She managed to get out past the astonished lump in her throat.

"Yes, Dr. Chandler, really."

------

"And he just offered her the job right there?" Evan said, looking up from the latest issue of Thrasher magazine. Jubilee sat on the couch, pillows propping her back up, with an ice pack pressed to her side. After she'd been released from the Infirmary she'd raced as fast as she could to the television room where everyone was hanging around, waiting for dinner. After she'd put to rest every ones concern, she'd told them about her encounter with Dr. Chandler.

"Yeah, I mean, she was nice and everything. She didn't even freak out around Beast, but she's doing some sort of research and the Professor's giving her grants."

"The Professor wouldn't let her research on us," Kitty said, she was sitting down next to Jubilee.

"And if he hired her, then he'll tell us about her at dinner," Scott said, looking up from his Algebra homework.

"What was she like?" Kurt asked, since he had come in late to the conversation and missed hearing about the mysterious guest.

"Jeeze Kurt, she was kinda short, you know," Jubilee said, rolling her eyes, "She was from the south, too, had the accent."

"Wow, she pretty?" Kurt wiggled his eyebrow, then poofed away when a pillow came flying towards him. "What I'm just curious." He said when he reappeared.

"Kurt, get off the furniture," Ororo said as she stepped into the room, "Dinner." In one wave the students went for the stairs, and the dining room. They settled around the table, chit-chatting between each other, the most popular topic the mysterious Dr. Chandler. When Charles cleared his throat, everyone went quiet, knowing a speech was coming, and turned there attention on full.

"As you've probably already heard, I have made an offer to hire on a nurse for the school," Charles started, "As you've also probably heard, I have offered a research grant to this nurse. Dr. Chandler is a leading expert on X-gene mutations; if you are curious about her research I can give you her article to read. It is up to Dr. Chandler whether or not she comes to work her, but the money is hers. I would also like to ask that some of you step forward and become part of her study."

"She's gonna do test on us and stuff?" Jamie asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Dr. Chandler doesn't run test on subjects who are unwilling," Charles said, "Her brother is a mutant, she understands the difficulties that a mutant can experience. The Doctor is a good person, her research will bridge the gap between us and humans, I am asking you to accept her, like you have each other."

"Is she a mutant?" Jubilee asked.

"No, Dr. Chandler is human," Charles held up a hand as more questions came, "After dinner, after dinner I'll answer the rest of your questions."

------

Hope had a hard decision to make, so she did what always happened when she needed some advice, she called her older brother. Michael Jonas Chandler lived in Nebraska, farming wheat, hiding from the public eye. He had turned to Hope shortly after she came back from medical school, telling her about his mutation. Hope was his confidant, and he was hers. They were only a year apart in age, unlike Hope's little sister, who was five years younger than Hope. Michael was able to make things grow, Hope's most poignant memory of seeing his abilities was him walking across the lawn of the Chandler mansion at night, the grass growing under his bare feet. It had just grown like mad where he stepped, going from the nicely manicured lawn to wild untamed tuffs. Hope settled on her couch, the portable phone in one hand and a nice glass of white wine in the other. She hit the speed dial for her brother, and leaned back into the comfortable cushions behind her.

"Chandler Wheat, how can I help you?" Michael answer quickly.

"Mike, it's Hope," She said cheerily, "Can you spare a minute?"

"For you, baby sister, I can spare a whole hour," Mike said, "What's up?"

"I got a new grant," Hope started off, "Charles Xavier is paying me to do more research."

"Wow, nice work, but I can tell by your voice there's a catch."

"Can't hide anything from you can I?"

"Not a thing, baby sister, now what's the catch?"

"I do my research out of his school, but my schedule is so busy that I don't know if I can be that flexible."

"You can," Mike said, "If it's important enough to you."

"He gave me another option," Hope sighed, "I could be the nurse at his school, live there, even get paid a salary, but I don't know if I should quit Charity."

"Do you ever think about being a nurse for some prep school?"

"I don't know, I mean," Hope sighed again, "I think I'm burning out at the hospital, Mike. I've been there for almost twelve years, I've seen everything there is, and operated on countless cases, and just don't know if I can take it anymore."

"Sounds like you need a break, Hope."

"I know, but what if I make the wrong choice, Mike? What if I'm not burning out, just getting the flu or something?"

"You got a temperature?"

"No Mike," Hope rolled her eyes, even though her brother couldn't see, "I'm making theories."

"Sounds like your making excuses, baby sister," Now Mike sighed, "Hope, you've been dreaming about doing this research for years, this is an opportunity to finally get serious about your work. Once in a life time kind of stuff, take it. You know you want to."

"How do you talk me into these things?" Hope asked, feeling much better because Mike had done what he always did, said exactly what Hope needed to hear.

"I'm a silver tongued fiend, baby sister, now, go call Mr. Xavier and accept the position."

"As you wish, oh wise and mighty brother."

"You've got that right."

------

Author's Note: I love Mike! He's just so great, I wish I wrote him more often. Anyway, thank you for reading and please review.


	4. Chapter 4

A New Hope

Chapter Four

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: More rewrite, and this is actually has mostly brand new scenes! Every scene, but one is completely original and does not have a scene in the old version like it. Nifty huh? Well, that's the purpose of a rewrite isn't it? Please read and review.

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"I just can't believe it," Dr. Dominguez said, shaking his head sadly, "You decided to work two weeks more, even though you could have started the leisurely life of a school nurse all ready, what is wrong with you?"

"It's called, giving time for my replacement to get here," Hope replied, sliding her chart into the discharge slot, "And I'm still living the leisurely life, I'm a Chandler."

"So, how much time do you have left with us?" Lola asked, sidling up to Hope and elbowing her in the side, "I mean we have to have a going away party you know."

"Please guys, don't," Hope sighed, "The last party you threw for a doctor you got them one of those cakes in the shape of a pair of breasts."

"Only because Dr. Franklin was becoming a plastic surgeon," Dr. Kincaid pointed out. Dr. Lucy Kincaid was close to Hope's age, and use to be her medical student, before Lucy graduated. Now they worked together on the trauma team.

"And what kind of cake do you get for me?"

"Uh…ex…excuse me," Everyone behind the desk looked towards the person who had interrupted their friendly banter. The boy was short, looking over the counter top suspiciously and he had a very large black eye.

"Can I help you?" Hope asked, there was something familiar about the boy. The brown hair with a lightly green tint, the pale skin and the smell were very hard to forget, but Hope couldn't come up with a name.

"Yeah, uh, I'm lookin' for, uh, Dr. Chandler," The boy said, eyes darting around nervously. Obviously he's uncomfortable in hospitals, Hope thought, instantly putting on a friendly smile.

"Well, you've found her. Let me step around the counter here and we'll see what I can do for you," Hope said pleasantly. When she came around the counter she tried to keep the boy's eyes focused on her, but they just kept jumping around, like he expected someone to jump out at him, "So, what can I do for you, Mr.…"

"Todd Tolensky," the boy said quickly, "Uh, you uh were my doctor once, I was wondering if uh you could uh look at my eye."

"Sure thing, Mr. Tolensky, let's go find a bed for you." Hope gently laid her hand on Todd's shoulder and steered him towards a bed. Todd didn't walk, Hope realized, he hopped. He hopped to a bed, then sat there, shifting nervously. "Hey, Berry," Hope called as the nurse went by, "Can you get me Mr. Tolensky's medical records and a new chart?"

"I…I just wanted to make sure uh the eye's not broken you know?" Todd said, looking around, like he was expecting someone to jump out and attack him.

"What happened?" Hope asked while pulling on a pair of rubber gloves.

"Nothin', just a stupid fight."

"Uh huh, I guess I don't have to tell you fighting is wrong, correct?" Hope said, carefully pressing around the blackened eye to see if she could feel a break. Todd just shrugged and flinched away from her fingers, "Sorry about that. Any double vision?"

"Hey, Dr. Chandler, heard you were leaving us," A passing nurse called, "Hope you got a good job!"

"That's a very bad joke!" Hope called back, shaking her head, "So, any double vision?"

"No."

"Good, how about head aches?"

"No."

"Dr. Chandler the guy in room three is crashing!"

"Got to go, be back in a second," Hope patted Todd's hand before running towards her patient in treatment room three. She arrived just in time to save the patient; luckily it was just a minor heart attack and easily treated. Hope arranged for a cardiac specialist to see the patient. She didn't expect the specialist to show up for at least an hour or so because cardiac specialist didn't think the emergency room was worth their time. Hope sighed easily as she walked back towards the bed where she had left Todd Tolensky only the bed was empty.

"Hey, Lola, what happened to my patient?" Hope called, staring down at the empty bed.

"Uh, the little creepy frog-like guy? He left, just hopped out," Lola answered.

"He may have had a potentially serious injury," Hope frowned, "You let him leave?"

"Doc, I hate to tell you this, but he had a black eye, nothing more," Lola rolled her eyes, "Relax." But Hope frowned down at the bed a little while longer, she didn't like that he had just left. He said he'd gotten in a fight, could he have been abused? Hope wondered, that would explain his nervousness.

"Dr. Chandler, there are other patients to see," Dr. Dominguez called in a sing song voice as he walked past.

"There always are patients," Hope muttered, but she turned away from the empty bed and grabbed a chart.

------

Toad hopped into the Brotherhood house with a triumphant, "Ha! Double O Toad has returned."

"Yeah, great, what did you find out?" Pietro asked, zipping into the front hall.

"It's true, she'd leavin' the hospital," Toad hopped into the living room and jumped onto the couch, "Don't know why you had to have Blob hit me to find it out. They weren't talkin' about it like it was some big secret."

"You'd look suspicious just hopping in without being injured," Lance said, he was sitting in an armchair, idly rubbing his head with one hand, "Why does Mystique care about some stupid doctor anyway?"

"She's going to work at the Institute," Mystique said, gliding into the room with a disdainful look around, "That's all you need to know."

"Yeah, but, there's somethin' more to it right?" Toad asked, practically hopping in place, "I mean for me to you know go check it out."

"No," Mystique growled, "But I want you all to pay attention to what the X-men say about her."

"Oh come on, that mean's somethin's goin' on, right?" Toad asked again and Lance sent a fissure out, sending the couch into the basement. Those still in the room heard a muttered ouch coming up from the basement, but they ignored it.

"Just have an ear out, understand?"

"Yeah, sure thing Mystique," Pietro said, smiling.

Lance kept silent until Mystique left the room, then looked towards Pietro, "What do you know, Pietro?"

"Nothing," but Pietro was still smiling, which made Lance frown even more.

Blob walked in and looked around, "Where's the couch?"

------

They threw a going away party anyway with a cake in the shape of a dollar sign. Apparently everyone had voted it was the cake shape that made the most sense, but Hope just didn't get it. She'd told the whole staff, multiple times that she'd refused to be paid. She couldn't tell them that her paycheck was instead going to be part of her research grant, actually she'd worked everything out with Charles over her last two weeks working at Charity. No pay, just grants when she needed the money for research. It had taken some convincing, but Hope had simply explained the only money she really wanted from Charles was the grant. Her own bank account was large enough to support her for a very long time. Hope was nervous though, she'd been moving her stuff to the Institute over the two weeks and it didn't look like the students liked her very much. They clearly regarded her as an outsider, of course they were a little more personable than Logan. Hope got a slight headache just thinking about the brooding instructor who seemed to tail her every move in the Institute. Like I'm going to break my contract, Hope thought, by telling the world about the school. It was an incredible place, actually, one that she would have to mention to Michael. A school to train mutants to use their powers. Just incredible.

"Hope, you're not smiling," Dr. Dominguez said, sidling up to her, "And you should be happy to get out of this mad house."

"I am, you people were driving me nuts," Hope sighed.

"No, honey, you did that all on your own," Berry said in passing and Hope did the mature thing and stuck her tongue out. But Dr. Dominguez was right, she shouldn't be worrying about her job at the Institute, at least not yet. So she mingled, like she used to do when she was still living at home. She relived harrowing cases, weird cases and sad cases. She actually found herself blinking back tears when the staff presenter her with her locker tag.

"Oh boy," Hope sighed, "I bet you all want a speech or something."

"Please, spare us!" Dr. Dominguez called.

"Then I will, I'm going to a better place now. With a nicer boss, a smaller workload and a safer place. Ha." She smiled at the laughter, "I promise I'll visit, I'll miss you all and good-bye." But it wasn't really, Hope had to wade through the crowd for hugs, more promises to visit soon and arranging lunch dates. By the time she was able to reach the elevator Hope was strangely content with everything. She stepped into the elevator when it opened, punched the button for the garage level and leaned back against the wall. Tonight she had one last check to do on her apartment, then she'd drive over to the Institute and spend her first official night there. She'd have to wait to start her research though, she needed the students to trust her first. The mutants she had talked to before had mostly be reluctant to talk about their mutation, her brother was the same way, but after a few talks or bribes they had all opened up to her. Some even let her draw blood and run some test. She wanted answers for her brother, she wanted him to live an easier life if anyone ever found out about his X-gene. Hope sighed loudly, stepping off the elevator into the garage. Her SUV waited in the parking spot she'd been given along with her residency. Oh boy, she was tearing up again.

Hope walked over to the driver side and looked around the garage, "Good-bye," She whispered before getting in and driving off.

------

There was one box in the trunk of Hope's SUV of stuff she had accidentally left in her apartment that she had picked up on her last look through. She was now sitting in her SUV outside the gates of the Institute, playing with her key card to open the gate. It wasn't working, which was unusual. Normally she slid the card in, the gates opened and she'd go the garage. Tonight though, the machine kept spitting out her card. Hope drummed her fingers on the door, contemplating Murphy's Law when some static burst through the speaker.

"You got a problem, Doc?" It was Logan's voice through the static.

"Key card isn't working," Hope said, leaning a little out of the window, "Can you open the gate for me?"

"Right." Curt and terse as always, Hope thought as the gate began to swing open. She still wasn't use to the sight of the Institute, the grounds were impressively manicured, the fountain was lovely in the early evening and the school. What a beautiful building, classic lines, and an understated elegance. Hope had grown up in a plantation house, a pre-Civil war house but the Institute's architecture was completely different and she still felt oddly at home there. Hope was surprised to see Logan standing outside the garage, arms crossed watching her drive up. She stopped near him and got out of her car.

"You won't be able to open the garage with a broken key card," He said, holding out his hand, "Hand it over and you'll get a new one."

"Sure thing," Hope said pleasantly, handing over the key card without a protest. While Logan seemed to be determined to be rude to her, Hope tried to be nice to him. Hard, since he usually made her want to hit him and she was pacifist.

"Charles wants to talk to you, he's waitin' for you in his study. I'll show you the way." Hope wanted to protest, she knew the way to Charles's office, but Logan just turned and started walking.

"I have a box in the trunk of some things," Hope called, walking quickly to catch up with him.

"It'll get to your room." Okay, thanks, Hope thought, muttering in her head. She had to keep walking quickly to keep up with Logan, but that didn't distract her from looking around her. She noticed that heads began to appear out of doorways and students stopped in the hallways to watch her walk by, which made her feel extremely out of place. They vanished though, as soon as Logan turned and looked at them, almost like magic. When he stopped outside a polished oak door, Hope also stopped, waiting.

"He's inside," Logan said looking at her curiously.

"Thank you," So he wasn't going in with her, as she had expected. Hope opened the door herself and walked in, closing the door gently behind her. Charles was sitting by the window on the other side of the room looking out onto the grounds, as Hope herself had done on her first visit.

"Welcome back, Dr. Chandler," Charles said as he turned towards her.

"Thank you, Mr. Xavier," Hope replied, walking to a chair and taking a seat. She felt comfortable enough around Charles to relax some of the stiff manners she felt around the other staff and students.

"I hope your last day at Charity was a good one."

"It was certainly an interesting last day," Hope said, "I don't know if it was good, but certainly it was pleasant."

"There is no reason for you to be nervous, Doctor." Charles said, knowing exactly how Hope felt deep down. It was almost eerie the way he could do that, read people with an almost careless ease. Hope was convinced it was some natural talent he had.

"I guess it's the new job jitters, Mr. Xavier. I'm very honored to be working here." Hope sighed, nervously twisting her fingers together to give herself an outlet for her nerves.

"You've had plenty of experience dealing with mutants, as well as children, I don't see why you'd be nervous."

"Well, yes, I have. I guess it's just that so far the reception from the students has been less than welcoming."

"It does take the students a while to welcome strangers," Charles smiled reassuringly, "Give them time. They also know part of the reason you're hear is your research."

"I'd rather just be a doctor to them for now. The research can wait, if they would be more comfortable that way. I know, from what you've told me that there's never been an instructor here that's exclusively a doctor, I can understand their hesitance to be part of the research."

"They'll come around, they all want to be accepted and your work can bring some of that acceptance to them, but enough on the future, I have a few things to go over with you, Doctor."

"Of course," Hope agreed, there was still a small amount of business to be worked out between them before everything became official.

"As I've already told you, you can not use the students names when publishing your work. I arranged a P.O. box for you to receive mail and send mail from. I believe it will further protect the students privacy as well as the Institute's," Hope nodded in agreement, they had gone over this many times, working out the complicated privacy issues with her research. "You also mentioned that you'd like to do an inventory of the Infirmary."

Now Hope was in her element, "Yes, while I trust that you have everything a school of this nature would need medically, I would still like to go through everything. I would just offer suggestion on how to make it more efficient and organized."

"If you want to make any changes, Dr. Chandler, feel free to tell me and I will see if there is something I can do."

"Thank you, I was very impressed with what you have now when Hank gave me the tour. I don't believe there will be anything to change." Hope jumped as a very grand and very old grandfather clock chimed seven o'clock,

"Well seems it is time for dinner, you'll find this an interesting experience Dr. Chandler."

"Please, call me Hope, it's what most of my employers have called me and Dr. Chandler, I think should just be reserved for the students." Hope said casually, waving away the honorific. Hope held the door open for Charles and walked slightly behind him, as she had done with patients as Charity that were in wheelchairs.

"It's an unusual name, Hope. Does your brother have a middle name shifting towards the unusual?" Charles tone was polite and interested. Hope was all too happy to talk about her family, they were a very large part of her life and she loved talking about them.

"Actually Mike's named after one of our ancestors, our great-grand father, Jonas Michael Chandler who went missing shortly after World War two. My mother always had hoped for a daughter so when I was born she named me Hope. My sister's name is Thea, it means gift since my mother felt she was one. My mother loves sentimental things like that," Hope chatted, smiling slightly.

"All wonderful reasons, your family sounds like an interesting group of people." Hope looked down at Charles and wondered how much his work had alienated his family from him. In her interviews Hope had seen the terrible and frightening back lash some of those with the X-gene suffered from their families. It gave Hope cold chills to think about the idea of losing her parents over something like being different. Mike hadn't told their parents for that reason. While her parents were certainly opened minded about things, telling them he could manipulate plants was different. She heard the dinning room before she could see it. The noise of gossiping students was muffled but there. It seemed that she was the main topic of discussion for tonight, which was understandable. She'd been the topic of almost all the Institute's gossip for the past two weeks Hank had told her. Oh boy, she thought, time to face the music. Hope opened the door for Charles and the room inside went quite, leaving Hope to step in after and have all eyes turn towards her. There were more students than she had expected, so many in fact Hope felt her head reel a little bit. She'd seen glimpses of the students, but usually only two or three, there seemed to be so many at the table though. At the head of the table Hope spotted Ororo, Hank and Logan, each watching Charles and her with polite interest, though Hope noticed how Logan's brow furrowed a little and some of the students drummed their fingers. Hank, though, sent her a reassuring wink and a thumbs up. She was use to his appearance now, and smiled back.

"As I've told you before, we have a new teacher joining us here at the Institute, she'll be running the Infirmary so all medical problems will be reported to her. I would like you all to welcome Dr. Hope Chandler." There was kind applause and welcoming shouts all of which Hope accepted with a smile and a nod. A student had the guts to raise their hand after Charles had taken a seat, Hope had sat next to him, feeling like he was acting as the protective father for her.

"Yes?" Charles asked, looking over at the student with curiosity. Hope guessed that it was normal for the students to yell out their questions and not be this formal.

"Is she…like us?" The students ventured to ask, looking up and down the length of the table at those around him for support. The murmurs spread through the table reminding Hope of a swarm of locus just about to take flight, or a pack of cicadas in summer.

"No, I'm not," The murmurs of the table increased and Hope felt the need to explain, but she was never got a chance to, Logan cut her off.

"Relax, the Doc's got enough sense in her head to keep quiet about what goes on here." With that the table went back to gossip and joking. Hope could tell though, there was a warning in his statement. If she did tattle, he'd be after her. She knew his trust would have to be earned along with the students, but they seemed to be opening up to her. They shouted questions, listened when she answered, and even laughed at her jokes. She felt at home, suddenly, quickly and easily. When she offered up the need for volunteers to help her with the inventory of the Infirmary and the amount of hands that shot up had Hope looking over at Charles.

"I don't know who you will need, or who could possibly understand what I need them to do," Hope said with a smile on her lips and a light in her eyes.

"Well, that's a question you will have to ask Logan and Ororo. They know which students they can spare."

"We'll give you a list tomorrow who will be able to help," Ororo smiled approvingly down the table at the students. As the crowd waned so did Hope's energy, today had been hectic and an emotional roller coaster, but it had been a day of pure Heaven.

"I have to say, this was quite an event," Hope said smiling, "But I think I'll head up to bed now." Hope rose from the table, as did Logan, which bothered her slightly. She didn't need to be tailed but he just held out a new key card as she past him.

"Here," he said and Hope took the card. She walked to her room, playing with the card idly while she thought about the dinner. Logan's ringing endorsement was the one thing she kept coming back to. She knew that Hank had been answering question about her, as had Charles, but when Logan had said she was trust worthy they opened up to her. Why was that? What made his opinion solidify what Charles and Hank had told the students about her? He's a hard one to puzzle out, Hope thought as she stepped inside her room. She like the room, there were bookshelves along one long wall, where she could stack her medical textbooks. There was a desk that faced a window where she could set up her laptop and work. There was a small sitting area that looked out onto the grounds of the school, and through a door on the opposite side of the room was her bed and bathroom. Everything she needed to be comfortable, simple lines with no frills, the way she liked things. Hope didn't actually come up here to retire, she wanted her journal so she could scribble down her day. The box that had been in her truck was sitting on her desk, 'junk' written in thick black marker on one side. Though what was inside the box was not junk. In it lay months of hard work and hard digging. She'd raided the libraries video files and news clippings. She'd attacked the local newspaper editor, begging for any scrap of information they had on a 'mutants'. All that was in that box as was one well cared for laptop, masses of floppy disc, and hundreds and hundreds of hand written notes. There were little recorded interviews with the mutants she regularly talked to, and with the people who shared their secrets. Hope was after a leather bound journal where she kept all her personal thoughts. Every memory of her day would be written out with the precision of a medical report, but in her own personal thoughts. She had started keeping journals when she was just a kid, kept up the habit because she found the writing cleansing. Hope picked the journal up out of the box, chose one of the red armchairs that was part of the sitting area and sat down. She started writing easily, her thoughts on the students, her new position and fears. She kept writing late into the night. When she finally realized the time she climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly.

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Author's Note: Ah, rewrite goodness.

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	5. Chapter 5

A New Hope

Chapter Five

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Amazing what I've managed to get done on this rewrite. Here's the rewritten chapter five.

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Hope was use to waking up to noise, thundering footsteps, shouting, and laughing. When she caught naps while on shift at Charity she usually woke up to noise. Only this time there wasn't a nurse sticking in her head in the room, telling her someone was crashing. This time she could hear the students outside her room, yelling about the line for the bathroom, or missing shoes. Temporarily Hope was lost, where the heck was she? It only took the sounds of a minor explosion to remind her that she was in the Institute. Hope lay there in bed for a few minutes listening to chaos because she didn't have to get up. She wasn't on call technically until the afternoon so she didn't have to get up. Hope sighed, it was actually pretty nice, but she hauled herself out of bed and stumbled to the shower. She liked that her major dilemma was what to wear, but since the school seemed to be a casual place she went with casual clothes. She didn't have to wear her traditional black skirt, collared shirt and doctor's coat. But she put the doctor's coat on anyway, like armor it made her feel protected and she could face the sounds outside her door. The instant she stepped into the hallway she was almost run over by two students running past her, shouting loud enough to wake the dead. She followed them down stairs and back into the dinning room where breakfast was spread out over the table. It was more hectic than it had been at dinner; students were calling out plans to each other, grabbing muffins and glasses of juice before running out. It was well practice insanity. While Hope dodged her way to the coffee machine she answered good mornings and hellos, a little surprised at how many of the students noticed her. It was like a massive trauma, Hope thought watching two students run right into each other and then laugh it off while picking up their spilled breakfasts. Hope held her coffee mug over her head while she made her way to the table for a seat. With practiced skill she managed not to spill a single drop and sat down with a little sigh. She was pretty sure there was nothing like a morning at the Institute, it was like a roller coaster, the noise rising and falling, students whipping around the room, leaving Hope a little dizzy when it began to die down.

"Good morning, Dr. Chandler," Ororo said, sitting down in the chair next to Hope.

"Please, call me Hope, and morning," Hope said watching the student appear in the puff of smoke, "Tell me something, are mornings always like this?"

"Then you can call me Ororo, and yes usually," Ororo then addressed the student who had poofed into the room, "Kurt, you're not suppose to appear unexpectedly like that."

"Sorry, gotta go!" and in another puff of smoke the student, Kurt was gone.

"It will sometimes slow down during the weekends and summer breaks," Ororo said lovingly while watching the students. It was pretty obvious she cared about them all, it reminded Hope of the staff at Charity and she sighed a little longingly.

"Uh, did you and Mr. Logan decide on the students that would be helping me?" Hope asked, reaching for a bagel.

"Yes, we did. Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde will be helping you after school. They're very good students, responsible and reliable."

"Thank you, I'm sure I'll find them helpful. Is there anything like a staff meeting or something in the mornings? I'd like to get started on the inventory right away, but if there is one I can wait."

"No, not today, we do have some on occasion. You won't be working on any theories today?"

"No, not yet. That can wait for awhile, I do have enough notes from previous interviews that I can hold off on interviewing the students here."

"Well, if you do want someone to interview and soon, I'll be happy to offer some time to you," Ororo smiled at her and Hope stared a little stunned back.

"Wow, thank you. I didn't expect anyone to volunteer so soon," Hope managed, "Thank you."

"You work is quite interesting, Doctor," Charles said as he came into the room, "Ororo is actually curious about your work."

"Well, there's no solid evidence any of my theories are correct," Hope said blushing a bit, "Mostly its speculation." Suddenly a student came rushing into the room, startling Hope.

"Bobby," Charles said, and the student who was halfway to the other door stopped, "This is the third time this week you've almost missed your ride."

"Sorry, Professor, I know. I'll try not to do it again." Bobby said in a rush and then sprinted out of the room.

"Does he eat enough?" Hope asked before she could stop herself.

"Yes, actually, more than enough. He takes more than his fair share usually," Ororo answered, smiling, "I believe it's a growth spurt."

"He may just being going through a growth spurt," Hope mused, "They normally cause an increased appetite, but my theories are running towards the idea that many of those with the X-gene have quirks and some of them may be the over extension of powers leads to a physical drain, thus they eat more to make up the lost energy," Hope rambled from the huge list of side ideas she had on the X-gene and its effects.

"Quite an interesting theory Hope, any others?" Charles asked, joining them at the table.

"Quite a few actually, but all my work is based off of three base ideas."

"And those are?" Logan asked walking into the room, looking at her coolly.

Hope responded just as coolly, "That all of those with the X-gene have three basic adjustments to the normal human DNA. The first is a physical change of the person themselves, the second is physical change of the world around them, and the third is the manipulation of others," Hope explained, ticking off the three she had discovered or invented however you wanted to put it.

"It seems very simple," Ororo commented.

"It can be, but sometimes it's not. A mutant can have more than one trait, such as you Mr. Xavier; you can manipulate the world around you as well as others, two of the three base categories." Hope noticed Logan was giving her a skeptical look, "Well, Mr. Logan what are you powers?"

"Healin', and these," he said as three long metal claws slid out of one hand.

"Bad example then," Hope muttered, "You only fall into one category." Hope glanced at her watch, "I should start working on the Infirmary, and with the size of the place it could take awhile."

"Of course, Doctor," Charles said, "If you need help feel free to ask."

------

It was the middle of the afternoon, Logan was lying under the X-van, changing the oil when Charles interrupted his thoughts, _"Logan, I'd like to speak with you,"_ Charles' voice echoed in his head, something Logan was use to now and he pushed himself out from under the van.

"_On my way,"_ Logan responded wiping his hands on a rag. He found Charles in hi study, sitting behind his desk, looking contemplative. Charles always looked to be thinking about something, though, today it looked like whatever he was thinking about was bothering him.

"Alright, Charles, what about?" Logan asked, sitting in a chair in front of Charles's desk.

"Have you figured out what caused the platform to jump, that day Jubilee was hurt?"

Logan instantly felt a deep annoyance settle in his gut, there was something still bothering him about that platform and that day, "No, and I've run every test possible, the platform is in perfect order. Works like a charm, now."

"None of the students involved in that exercise could have done anything to the platform, without us knowing?" Charles asked.

Logan looked up and met Charles's eyes with one eyebrow raised, "What are you thinking Charles? You know none of the kids involved could do something to the platform and leave it untouched."

"How long has it been since Magneto's last attack?" Charles moved away from the desk to the window, looking out on the school grounds.

"It's been awhile, Charles, but you would have sensed something if Magneto had done something to the platform." Logan groaned when Charles didn't fill in the pause, "You can't possibly be serious? He's back to attacking us?"

"It's just a feeling, Logan, that's all." Charles shrugged.

"Is this the same feeling that you got from the Doc?" Logan asked casually, leaning back against his chair, propping his feet up on the desktop.

"I know you have problems with hiring a non-mutant, Logan, but the Doctor will be important to getting mutant accepted to the normal world. She's doing great things, right now, and when the world accepts her idea she go on to do greater things."

"All this from a feeling from a Doctor, and you don't have anything on Magneto," Logan gave a shake of his head, "You need to focus on what's really important, Charles." Charles gave Logan a knowing smile, and Logan just rolled his eyes.

------

Hope was annoyed beyond belief with the hospital wing and the mess whoever had been running it had left it in. She had been here all morning and had managed to only sort through the first line of cabinets. There was no excuse for this, Hope thought, pulling another tangled mass of Ace bandages free from a cabinet, this one had not spilled out when she had opened it. Any person with a decent sense of order would have made sure things were kept at least in some sort of order. How had anyone managed to get treated with this mess around? And the cabinets should have glass fronts, so anyone could see what was inside. And the drawers should be labeled clearly and Hope sighed, when she finished there was going to be a very long list of suggestions for Charles. She was glad Jean and Kitty would be helping her this afternoon, but if she was going to do this every morning she was going to go insane. It was nothing like Charity, which had a small army of nurses that kept everything in order. Hope let loose a cruse as a bottle of polymyxin fell to the floor, exploded spilling glass and medicine everywhere.

"Colorful language, Doc," Hope felt like cursing again when she jumped at the sound of Logan's voice. He was standing just inside the room, his hands stuffed into his pockets, one corner of his mouth tilted up in a smile, obviously not here to help.

"Thank you, Mr. Logan, is there something I can help you with?" Hope asked, turning away from him. She teetered on the tips of her toes, carefully pushing a box of something back on to a shelf so that it didn't crash into her head, she had enough bumps from the previous stuff that had cascaded out of the shelves.

"No, I just thought I'd see if you were hurt." Hope puffed out a breath to push the little strand of hair that had fallen before her eyes and missed Logan's quick smile.

"Well I'm not, so if you don't mind, I'd prefer to have help or be left alone," Hope snapped, stepping back with an armful of medical charts carelessly heaped in a manila folder. She stacked them on top of the pile of other paper work she had found within the depths of the shelves.

"What do you need?" Hope had to admit she was surprised when Logan stepped towards the cabinets without a second thought. There wasn't a lot Hope knew about Logan as a person, but she never thought he's easily change from kind of stand off-ish attitude he had shown before to this willing helpful person.

"Just help me with making sure nothing falls, such as that bottle that you heard me lament." Hope ran a hair through her hair, which was escaping the bun she had put it in. This was going to be a challenge, a bigger challenge that Hope had originally figured on.

"So, hang back until you need me?" Logan asked standing back and watching her with those intense eyes.

"Yes, but keep your hands busy will you, try to make sure the mess I am making outside of the cabinets doesn't become impossible." Hope said, facing the cabinets with renewed zeal. Of course renew zeal never lasts as long as you need it to, Hope thought, catching a bottle of antiseptic as is dropped from the top shelf. Of course there was the box full of antiseptic that was also falling towards her head. Hope braced herself for it to smack cleanly into her head, but it never came. Hope had forgotten about Logan, but she was very aware of him now. He was standing behind her, one arm raised to catch the box, of course this pressed his chest against Hope's back. Beyond surprised about being uncomfortable, Hope stiffened as Logan pulled the box down and stepped away. Once he had stepped away, Hope didn't relax, but she tried her hardest to act like it.

"Thanks," Hope said, a little annoyed at being breathless, "I thought I would end up germ free."

"That's what I'm here for," Logan commented, setting the antiseptic down.

"Of course, I'm really grateful for your help," Hope sighed, looking over the mess that was now lying over all three beds. "I'm going to be really grateful when Jean and Kitty come to help." Hope's mind jumped to a question and before remembering Logan didn't talk much she asked, "What do you do at this school exactly?"

Logan looked like he was musing over the answer, which wasn't what Hope wanted, "I do this and that," he said on a shrug. Of course, Hope thought, turning back to the seemingly endless task of cleaning out just the shelves. "Why don't you take a break?" Logan suggested, passing a bottle of antiseptic between his hands.

"Because, if I take a break I'll never get finished," Hope stated, use to working long and hard hours at Charity, and these shelves and cabinets couldn't be harder than a double shift in Trauma.

"What about lunch?" Logan asked as Hope pushed herself up on her tip toes again, reaching for the top shelf and cursing her height. Note to self, Hope thought, get stepping stool from Ace or Home Depot.

"I don't need lunch," Hope muttered her fingers just barely reaching another file of something on the top shelf. "I can survive on breakfast alone."

"From working at a hospital?" Hope could hear that Logan didn't think much of her choice of careers, but she was use to people who distrusted doctors.

"There's a lot I've learned from working at a hospital," Hope replied, dropping to her feet carefully balancing a large stack of folders.

"Such as?" Logan was giving her the third degree, Hope figured, he was getting very annoying about it.

"I can take more caffeine into my system than any human should be able to," Logan snorted and Hope glared, "I can splint a multiple femur fracture with Ace bandages and an intubation tube. I've been stabbed twice by a patient and still went on with my shift," Hope paused, she was bragging about that which was wrong.

"You've been stabbed on the job?" Logan looked surprised that the hospital could get so frantic.

"Yes, a prisoner from a jail, he had colon cancer. He had a shank about the length of my pinky hidden in his sleeve. He cut himself out of his restraints, and then stabbed a fellow doctor and myself. He escaped then hung himself. We both received a few stitches and got back to work," Hope said this casually, but the prisoner had come close to getting Hope's throat. It wasn't one of her better memories at Charity, but there were others, "That's not a typical day, by any means, and that's what was fun." Hope wasn't use to someone meeting her eyes so intensely; no one had a stare like Logan's. Hope refused to look away, she could look a leg run over by a car, she could meet Logan's eyes.

"Doctor, I'm here!" In bounded Kitty, and Hope still wouldn't look away.

"Hello Kitty," Hope said, contributing her jumpy nerves to having to get to know Jean and Kitty, and not Logan's unblinking stare. "I was just chatting with Mr. Logan here, I hope you two are ready to work?"

"Actually, Dr. Chandler, Jean has soccer practice until four, she's going to be late," Kitty said, obviously noticing the staring contest, but making no comments about it.

"What?" Hope was finally forced to look away from Logan, which didn't help because he was still looking at her.

"Well, Jean forgot about having it when she volunteered for helping," Kitty shied away from the glare Hope was giving her, and Hope instantly softened her look.

"It's alright, you and I can handle this," Hope said, looking back at Logan, "Thank you for your help, Mr. Logan, I know you're busy this afternoon."

"Any time," Logan walked towards the door, "Kid, make sure you do your homework." And he was gone, though Hope still glared at where he had been, before letting a little sigh escape.

"Kitty, why don't you start on those files? I'd like to clear the beds."

"Sure thing, how do you want them organized?" Kitty rubbed her hands together and moved to the first bed.

"Alphabetical please," Hope sighed. They worked in a comfortable silence, Kitty humming some sort of pop tune while she worked. Hope mostly ignored her urge to ask the girl questions about her powers, or the school, but after a while Hope couldn't resist any longer, "Kitty," She said catching the girl's attention, "I was wondering, and don't feel as if you have to answer, what exactly is your power?" Hope turned towards the girl again, noticing that she had the first bed clear and was already starting on the second one.

"I can walk through things," She said, sticking her hand through the stack of files she was working on and the bed.

"Oh, you're a god send, Kitty," Hope sighed in relief, "I've been having everything drop out of these top cabinets onto my head since I started this," Hope smiled and had Kitty smiling back. "What do you say we switch places, you can clear out cabinets, and I can file?"

"Sure thing," Kitty said, jumping to her feet and rushing towards a cabinet. Obviously she didn't like paperwork that much. Hope stepped over some of the boxes she had on the floor and started to go through the files. After awhile she noticed that Kitty wasn't much taller than she was, "Kitty, do you know where a step stool is?"

"No, I don't there's ever been one in here," Kitty said, standing on her tip toes to reach through the cabinet door and pulled out a glass jar filled with cotton balls and thus start the prosperous up swing in the work. Hope decided to let Kitty start conversation if she wanted to, she'd already asked her one nagging question.

"Do you like the Institute?" Kitty asked when the silence had dragged on for what seemed to be a long enough time.

"What I've seen of it," Hope said, carefully looking over the rim of her reading glasses to Kitty. "Everyone here is very welcoming. What about you, Kitty, do you enjoy it?"

"Yeah, this place is great," Kitty was shoulder deep in the cabinet, door closed. It was fascinating for Hope to watch, because Kitty could also pull objects through with her. It is transference of power, Hope thought, how does it work? "Why would you leave a hospital to work here?"

"Well, this is a once in a life time opportunity for me," Hope mused, "I have got a lot of questions about medical treatment for mutants. The hardest part about the research is finding a wide variety of subjects. Here I have the ability to talk with a wide variety of mutants as well as practice medicine."

"Oh, but don't you want to like, run test on us and stuff?"

"No, I don't force the mutants I talk to into test they don't want to take."

"But why would you care, I mean no offense, but you're not like us," Kitty hesitate in saying it, and added a blush for an effect, causing Hope to laugh.

"I'm a doctor, first off, Kitty, and if I was still working at the hospital and a mutant came in, how could I treat them if I couldn't get an I.V. line in? Or if my surgical tools slipped through while I was trying to repair a torn spleen?"

"Ewe, how can you not be grossed out by all that blood and guts stuff?" Kitty shivered a bit and Hope laughed again.

"Because getting covered in blood or guts isn't the worst thing I've been covered in," Hope said with a reminiscing smile, there was nothing like being a doctor.

"Sorry I'm late," Jean said as she came skidding into the room.

"It's alright Jean," Hope turned away from the cabinets, "Why don't you help Kitty, you can reach the higher shelves. You can stop things from falling on your head, right?" Hope asked.

"Yeah, I'm a telekinetic, don't worry."

"Good thing, stuff falls out of the cabinets like mad," Hope sighed and cracked her knuckles, "Can either of you tell me who was in charge of organizing or running this place before I was hired?"

"I think it was Mr. Logan," Kitty said, looking towards Jean for confirmation.

"Yeah, I think that's right." Jean nodded in agreement.

"Do you get many injuries for this place to be like this?" Hope opened another files and was met by a mess of papers.

"Just minor stuff," Jean answered, levitating some bandages that had fallen out of a cabinet and organizing them.

"Minor enough for you to have a crash cart," Hope said, noting the dephibulator in the corner of the room.

"That's for Berserker, he sometimes stops his own heart," Jean commented, sending the machine a sideways glance.

"What?" Hope was stunned, that just shouldn't be humanly possible.

"He's got this electrical power, sometimes he over loads his own heart," Kitty said, "Mostly does it when he shows off."

"And you all know how to use the crash cart?" Hope thought her time in the Institute was going to be an interesting experience to say the least.

"No, Logan, Ororo and I do," Hank walked in, and Hope smiled, finally someone who can explain this, Hope thought.

"Hello, Hank, what can I do for you?" Hope asked, noticing that the hallway outside seemed to be in a furry of activity.

"Charles needs Kitty and Jean to suit up," Hank said, standing to the side as Jean and Kitty went racing out of the hospital wing.

"Hank what's going on?" Hope thundered, amazed that she had finally gotten both her helpers and now they were being whisked away, "I need their help!"

"Everything will be explained, Hope, I'm here to help you clear the beds and make sure you have everything you might need for multiple traumas." Hank said as he began to haul some of the medical papers off the three metal beds.

"What? Hank, you've got to give me more than just I should expect multiple traumas and then take away my assistants okay?" Hope ordered, even though she was already helping the clear the beds. Hank walked over to the panel of buttons in the wall and pressed one. On the far blank wall a plasma screen TV appeared and turned on to the news channel. On it a man who looked to be on steroids and in desperate need of a hair cut was lifting cars and tossing them towards innocent bystanders.

"That would be Sabretooth, and he's the reason your helpers were borrowed."

------

Author's Note: Look I still left the cliff hanger ending, aren't I a doll?

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	6. Chapter 6

A New Hope

Chapter Six

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Wheee more rewrite-y goodness!

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"That would be Sabretooth, and he's the reason your helpers were barrowed." Hope was stunned her gaze fixated on the screen and the monster that was Sabretooth. She wasn't really stunned that the man could lift cars, and toss them with the easy of a rag doll, it was that he looked vicious like an untamed animal while doing it.

"What does he have to do with anything?" Hope asked, though she moved faster, grabbing every available suture kit and gauze pad while trying to clear the floor and make room.

"He's a mutant," Hank started, also moving boxes and files.

"Part of this school?" Hope interrupted, listening with one ear to the frantic sounds coming from the TV.

"No, Sabretooth is…well he just is, catch," Hope turned and caught the box of antiseptic, before she tossed a few bottles on to the tray she was setting up, "There's no reason for him to do this, but look, now." Hope looked up from the tray she was putting together and stopped dead. She had spotted Kitty just as a car went through her. Before the car could hit the large black plane behind her it was stopped and gently set down. Hope recognized Jean's powers right away, but there was nothing like the feeling of incredulity she had.

"They are just children, and you send them to go against them?" Hope yelled, not one for people putting themselves in danger.

"They are the only one's who can stop him," Hank said, "Hope, duck."

"What?" Hope turned, and came face to face with a scalpel. It was hovering inches away from her face in mid air, "Is that you?"

"No, Hope, just get out of its way," Hank ordered, and Hope could hear the fear in his voice. Hope, taking a chance, reached a hand out and caught the end of the scalpel with out the blade. It dove at her, and Hope dodged left, but it caught her cheek. Swearing, she was forced to duck again as it continued the attack. Never had she expected this, Hope was backed against the bottom cabinets, watching the blade stare her down like a determined opponent. It was by luck that her hand landed on a stack of papers, that she raised it in time to block what would have been the final charge. It was luck and the thickness of the file that kept the tip of the blade from cutting into her nose. Hope tossed away the papers and got to her feet.

"Give me come gauze," She ordered when Hank took a step towards her, "Just give me gauze and some tape, I'll deal with it later." Hope would deal with the whole incident later, there were going to be injuries coming in, she had to deal with them first.

"You're all right?" Hank asked, handing over the requested gauze and tape.

"It's nothing, Hank." Hope turned towards the screen, "Who's that?" Hope pressed a finger on the screen, pointing to the severely over weight teenager who had just walked onto the screen.

"A member of the Brotherhood, his name is Blob." There was a sudden lurch in the room, "What is going on?" Hank asked. Hope stared around as every metal object in the room lifted up into the air.

"We're under attack, it seems like!" Hope yelled, watching with horror as the tools that weren't deadly were dropped.

"Magneto's close by, Sabretooth is the distraction," Hank was obviously not the target as every deadly tool now faced Hope.

"Well, what do we do?" Hope was marvelously calm, for being faced with deadly weapons, but she was reciting all 210 bones in the human body like she did when she was faced with any problem. But there was chilling fear rising in her, sharp and cold it waited for her to break down and give in, but that wasn't Hope's style.

"Get help," Hank dove towards the panel and hit some button that started an alarm. Hank pressed another button and his voice boomed out over a speakers system, "Students, search the grounds, use extreme caution." Hope didn't think caution was going to help. She prayed her luck was holding when she dove to the side, right this time, and scrambled for the door. Hank followed her out of the hospital and slammed the door closed. Hope kept her back to it, as if her weight would keep it closed.

"Did you get hit?" Hope asked, once her heart rate returned to normal.

"No, they weren't after me."

"I know this is going to sound bad, but are any of the students able to do what just happened?" Hope looked down at her hand, the gauze was a mangled mass of fabric in it, still she touched it to her cheek where the blood was coming from.

"No," Hank shook his head for emphasizes, "None area able to do that."

A few more beats of the alarm and the students running around upstairs, "Should we go back in?"

Hank pressed his ear to the door, listening for any sound, "I believe it's safe, but let me go first." Hope nodded and stepped back, out of the door way and to the side. Hank opened the door, looked inside, and stepped inside. Hope closed her eyes, expecting the worst, she was sure there would be a rush of metallic tools and Hank would come stumbling out, instruments stick out of him. Hope would have to call an ambulance and then try to explain what had happened, but she was wrong, Hank came back out and touched her shoulder. "It's safe."

"Okay, good, let's get everything together," Hope rubbed her hands together to get rid of her lingering nerves, "I'm expecting a lot of glass caused injuries," she mumbled under her breath. She happily stepped into the confidence that being a doctor gave her. It was easier to face the room, the tools, if she was a doctor. They worked quickly, making sure that the room was in some sort of order, making sure the beds were clear and everything Hope thought might be needed was set up on trays. She took only a fraction of a minutes to cover her cut with butterfly bandages and antiseptic. She had Hank show her how to turn the television off and return it to its hidden place in the wall. They only paused in their work when a student appeared to tell Hank that there was nothing on the grounds. Hope didn't like to hear it, but she pushed it out of her way and focused on her work. When they were finished, there was a five-minute pause in activity, where Hope kept imagining the worst, before the door opened and in walked the injured.

Instantly Hope jumped to her feet and took control, "Everyone who's hurt, and I mean serious injuries, sit, those who have little things like glass cuts, bruises or sprains, you'll have to wait." Hope was surprised that no one sat down, "No one is seriously injured? You're kidding me."

"You look like you took more damage then us Doc," Logan said from his place by the doorway.

"This from the man with almost all of his shirt torn," Hope commented, pulling on a pair of protective gloves, "Alright, all of you who have glass somewhere, sit, and I'll get started."

------

Hank eased himself up next to Logan, while Hope's attention was diverted "I need to talk with you," he said.

Logan looked away from where Hope was telling Kurt to be still and let her do her job, "About what?" Logan asked, dropping his casual leaning to look down at Hank.

"Why she has that cut. Where's the Professor?" Hank slipped out of the room with Logan and followed him to Charles's office. The Professor was inside, talking with Scott and Jean.

"Hank, I was just about to send for you, why did you start the alarm?" The Professor asked, watching Hank as he walked into the room with Logan.

"If you look over the camera footage from the hospital wing from when you were gone, you'll see why." Those in the room waited while the plasma screen opened and Hank cued up the footage of the attack for everyone to watch. Silence descended while the footage played.

"It looks like Magneto," Scott said, watching as Hope dodged the first attack.

"The student's did find anything on the grounds?" Charles asked, turning towards Hank.

"No, they didn't," Hank answered, "It's just a guess but I believe that Sabretooth was a distraction, along with the other Brotherhood members who showed up, to get almost everyone out of the Institute. I don't think he guessed that I would be left behind."

"But what would Magneto want with Dr. Chandler?" Scott asked, also turning towards Hank.

"She's a non-mutant advocate for mutants," Charles said, "She's a respected member of the community, and she's working on research that would allow people to understand us."

"She's a threat to Magneto's plans," Logan muttered, turning the screen off.

"Would you bring her here, Logan, I'd like her to join this discussion," Charles said.

"I'll bring 'Roro with me when I come back," Logan said and left the group.

"Do you think she'll change her mind about living here?" Jean asked the Professor, it was obvious she liked Hope.

"The choice will be offered to her," Charles answered, looking towards the doors, "But I don't think she'll give up on her work."

------

"Hey, hey, easy would ya," Kurt said as Hope pulled free a very small fragment of glass.

"Will you relax Kurt?" Rouge said, sitting back on one of the beds, her wrist was bothering her, if Hope remembered correctly.

"You don't have her poking at you," Kurt complained and Hope smiled.

"There you go Kurt, that's the last piece, you can go to bed now," Hope stood up and cracked her knuckles. "I can finish with you a minute Rouge, once I try and find ice in this place."

"You can stop at the ice, Doc, that's all I'm going to need," Rouge said, while Hope opened a fridge and pulled free an ice pack and was careful to catch those that followed without being pulled on.

"Well, I still want a look at it, Rouge, I can't let you walk out of here without me getting a good look at it. Wish I had some idea of where an x-ray machine was in this place." Hope slipped on a new set of gloves, and turned towards Rouge.

"You can't touch me," Rouge said, not meeting Hope's eyes, "My powers."

"I've got gloves on, you can practice a bit of control, if something happens you can get help," Hope smiled as she walked over, "There's got to be a sucker in those shelves somewhere, I'll give you one if you sit still, unlike Kurt."

"You were very kind to him," Rouge said, and held out her wrist. Hope began to gently press her fingers into it.

"I've handle patients who look worse," Hope studied the wrist. It wasn't badly swollen, nor was it badly bruised so she handed over the ice pack, "Well your medical skills are better than mine, your wrist is sprained, so just keep this until morning."

"Thanks," Rouge jumped off of the bed and Hope watched her leave. Last patient, Hope sighed as she pulled off the gloves and toss them into the wastebasket. It wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be, everyone was mature, and understanding, but still, they had actually put themselves in harms way. How could someone ask teenagers to do that, Hope wondered, they're just kids. As Hope cleaned up she stopped to pick up the folder on the floor, the scalpel was still in it, so was her blood. What had happened? Hope wondered, pulling it free. Why had it happened is a better question, Hope tossed it into the trash along with the papers.

"You done Doc?" Logan asked, and Hope sighed, she had been about to try to get the blood out of her shirt.

"Yeah, just finished." Hope said, "Do you need something?"

"Where's Ororo?"

"Went with Evan, last I heard," Hope stretched her arms towards the ceiling, try to relieve the tension that was settling between her shoulder blades.

"Professor wants to talk with you," Logan motioned for her to follow so Hope flipped off the lights and followed. He probably wants to talk about the injuries, Hope thought, rubbing at the tension in her neck. Or maybe the attack on Hank and her, but Hope wanted it to be about the students. For the second time since she had arrived Hope found herself in the office of Charles Xavier. Gather with the Professor were Hank, Jean, and Scott, if Hope remembered the boy's name correctly.

"Thank you for coming, Doctor," Charles said, offering Hope a seat, which she took gratefully, she'd spent all day on her feet she realized.

"It's nothing, Mr. Xavier," Hope replied, wondering why Scott and Jean would be here also.

"Hank said you were attacked today, and by the cut on your cheek I see you survived," He said, coming to a stop before Hope, looking her over with an intensity that Hope found just as unnerving as her attack this afternoon.

"Yes, I was, though I don't know if you could charge a floating scalpel with intent," Hope commented, acting as if it was a daily occurrence.

"I do have to ask if you want to leave. Would you like to leave, Doctor?"

Hope smiled but shook her head, "What I want are answers, sir, I was attacked, that much is clear to me, but I don't know why."

"I can tell you the why, Doctor, but you may not like the reason," Charles said, and Hope could hear the regret in his voice.

"Then can you tell me who might have done this," Hope turned towards Hank, "You said it was someone named Magneto."

"Yes," Hope turned her attention back to the Professor, "Magneto could very well be responsible."

"Well, who is he?" Hope asked, because everyone else in the room looked as though they knew what was going on, and she hated to be left out.

"Magneto is a mutant," Jean said, stepping forward to stand next to Charles, "He calls himself the Master of Magnetism."

"Which would explain why it was only metallic objects that attacked you," Scott jumped in, Hope had recognized him as a leader.

"So, this Magneto attacked me," Hope drew in a breath, "Any theories behind why? I'm not looking for a definite answer, but something to may be able to put my mind to rest."

"We think he's after you because of your work," Charles said, watching Hope for any flicker of emotions, but Hope was reciting bones again.

"He wants a war between humans and mutant, your work could stop all of that," Hank explained, which made absolutely no sense to Hope, but then again not much was making sense to her today.

"My work and I are not taken seriously, I had to practically beg to get my work published in an incredibly obscure medical journal, and still doctors who have read that magazine are laughing at me. Why would he think I'm a threat when the medical community thinks I'm a nut?" Hope took a steadying breath; she was beginning to panic, which helped no one.

"He believes you could be taken serious, that's enough for him." Logan said off handedly.

"Thank for the concern," Hope snapped, then drew a breath and ran a hand through her hair, "Sorry about snapping, it's just, I've had people after my blood before, hell there was a guy who showed up every Halloween and tried to drink my blood, but it's creeper when you don't have a face to put with it." Hope stopped and thought, she felt every eye on her, but it didn't matter. She could give up her project and live longer, or she could stay on it and avoid metal all her life, simple really. "I'm not going to give up my project, and I'm not going to leave the students here without medical attention. I've seen what you do with the training you give them, and they may get seriously hurt and I can't walk away from that."

"You a very brave person, Doctor," Charles said, and Hope could tell he was immensely relieved, "I want someone to stay with you when we go out, someone who can make sure that Magneto won't do you harm."

"That's fine with me, sir," Hope smiled, "Would you like reports on who was injured or a write up on them or something?" Hope suggested, shifting back into her job.

"As long as it weren't any serious injuries," Hope shook her head, "Then you're dismissed Doctor, Jean, Scott would you escort Dr. Chandler back to her room?" Hope listened as she walked away, they were still going to talk about her, and that wasn't going to make Hope's nerves settle any. What weren't they telling her? Hope asked herself, there couldn't be more about this Magneto guy that they didn't tell me. Hope cast a sideways glance at her two escorts, and felt suddenly defiant. I don't care about you and your threats, Magneto, Hope thought viciously, it's time I took things into my own hands.

Hope turned towards Jean, "Would you mind if I talk to you for my research?" Jean looked startled, "And you too Scott, I haven't started any serious work with the students, and I would like too."

"You want to talk with us, just talk?" Scott looked just as surprised as Jean, but Hope wasn't going to give up just yet.

"The first step is just talking, I prefer to get to know you before I ask you a mess of medical questions. Don't worry, there not life altering questions," Hope stopped outside her door, wondering if on the other side an assassin waited to kill her. I'm paranoid, Hope thought, even though that doesn't help me.

"We'll go first," Scott said, taking lead, his hand on the side of the visor he wore. Hope was happy to stand aside and let them enter first. She watched them enter and disappear, god she hoped Scott didn't have to use his power in her room, if her notes got trashed, "It's all clear," he called and Hope sighed in relief. She stepped in and smiled.

"If you want to talk go ahead and grab a seat," Hope said, moving her laptop off of the table and sitting down herself. Both students sat tentatively, but Hope was hopeful. "Before we start, are there any questions you want to ask me, since I'm going to be questioning you."

"What are you going to do with what we tell you?" Jean asked.

"Normally, I use the information gathered to advance my theories, depending on what you tell me I can move on from my basic, almost sure theories, to make more advanced ones," Hope explained.

"No poking or prodding with tools or instruments?" Scott asked, his hand unconsciously touching his visor.

"No, I don't do any of that. Of course it makes my theories less likely to be accepted, but everything at a price."

"Why, I mean if you what to understand this medically, why not run test?" Jean asked. God Hope loved this, explaining, getting people to understand her work, understand everything. Of course, Hope thought, it was also the reason she was being attacked.

"I've never liked running test on the unwilling, and even though some might be willing," Hope shivered, fighting down something that made her afraid at the thought of test like the ones Scott was talking about, "I don't like them."

"What kind of things do you want to know?" Jean offered, leaning forward. Hope could have gone on forever with her questions, but she only went until curfew. There was such a wealth of information here, Hope thought, finally taking her hair down, even though most of it had escaped from the bun she had put it in. At a knock, Hope actually jumped, the nerves of the day were still with her. "Come in!" It surprised her that Logan was the one to walk in, along with Hank. "Does the Professor want something else?"

"You handled yourself very well today, Hope," Hank said, "I wanted to see if you were handling everything alright."

Hope gave a relieved smile at Hank, "I'm not use to having my life in danger, but I think I'm okay."

"Has anything happened to your room?" Logan asked, inviting himself further into the room and sniffing around like an animal.

"No, Mr. Logan, only Jean and Scott have been in here." Hope put her hands on her hips and started to tap her foot, she wanted to get out of her blood stained shirt. "Mr. Logan, there's nothing wrong with my room, Hank tell him." When Hope turned to Hank he was doing the same thing, in frustration Hope threw her hands up and sighed for the millionth time today.

"Did you leave this window open?" Logan asked, closing the window.

"Yes, I prefer the fresh air," Hope said in defeat, there was no fighting this, "Which one of you will be sleeping on my couch to make sure no one tries for me in the night?"

"Nothing that drastic," Hank said waving away Hope question.

"I'll be posted in the room next to yours, if you need anything," Logan said striding out like he owned the place. Hope hissed, and narrowed her eyes.

"Obviously you don't think to highly of Logan," Hank commented sitting in a chair.

"He's a perfectly fine man," Hope practically growled, "If you enjoy arrogance."

"He does take some getting use to, but he's a very good instructor for the children. As are you," Hank smiled, "Doctor." Hank let himself out and Hope smiled at his retreating back. There was one day down, Hope thought, closing her door and locking it. Hopefully I can survive the rest.

------

Author's Note: Man, these rewrites are getting easier and easier. Not that I'm changing a lot of things in some chapters, like this one.

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	7. Chapter 7

A New Hope

Chapter Seven

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: I'm running out of things to put here, hmmm.

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From the personal journal of Hope Chandler:

There are times I wonder if I had made the right choice, in coming to work here. It's been two weeks since I've started and have found that while I fit in, there is still a small resentment between the students and myself. Though I do enjoy the students, I believe they hold my normalcy against me. None are compared to Mr. Logan though. I have never seen a less mature man in my life, not ever Dr. Felson, my teacher in my first year at Charity, who I remember as being a total jerk, is nothing like Mr. Logan. The man can be helpful, cold, indifferent, or joking, but all of these are infuriating to me. Which I believe he takes great delight in being. I do enjoy the company of Ororo, the only other female instructor here. I spent a school day working with her in the small green house she keeps, and enjoyed myself immensely. Mike would be proud of me. Hank also is a wonderful part of working here. He has helped with cleaning the hospital, which finally is organized, and we argued theories of environmental protection at dinner once and confused everyone. Always fun. Yet, for all of the distractions there are, here my theories are taking flight, I've had another article publish, with my latest theory, that the X-gene is a double recessive gene. I don't have solid evidence, but after studying the genetic background of the some the students here all of them have recessive traits, being it eyes, hair, skin tone, it's incredible!

Hope looked up from her journal, something seemed odd in her room. Billie Holiday was still playing on the portable stereo, the outside hallway was active with students staying up late on their Saturday night, and no metal objects were threatening her life. She really believed she was paranoid; there had been no attacks since the scalpel incident. Of course Logan was still lodged right next door, which ticked off Hope immensely. Hope turned back to her journal and the window shattered, sending Hope to her feet. A Frisbee had flown in. Hope picked it up and leaned out of the window, "Wolfsbane!" The young girl came walking under the window, looking guilty, "How many times have I told you not to throw this towards the house? Even the Professor has talked to you about it."

"Sorry, Doc," everyone had picked up a Logan's little nick name for Hope, "Sudden wind caught it, can I have it back?" Hope threw it, just as Logan kicked in her door, claws drawn, it was another occurrence Hope had gotten use to.

"Hello, Mr. Logan, just Wolfsbane again," Hope said, carefully avoiding the broken glass. Logan slipped his claws home and studied that damage, "You can either schedule another visit from the glassier, or you can call Forge."

"Why is it always your window?" He asked, walking over to look at the damage.

"Because the wind here blows towards my window," Hope said, returning to her seat and carefully sliding the pen home in her journal. She would wait out Logan before she started writing again.

"My window is in the same wind pattern," Logan was talking more to himself then to Hope, which suited her fine. There was nothing better for her than to study him, when he was lost in thought. It was easy to tell he was thinking, and frustrated, his eyes were darker and the left corner of his lip was pulled back. Hope found her eyes lingering on his lips, just a spilt second too long, and hauled herself back. There is no way I'm actually enjoying his presence, Hope thought, there is no possible way. But there was something about the way he stood there, hands confidently place on the windowsill, Hope jumped to her feet.

"Logan, get your hands off the window, that's covered in broken glass," Hope ran over and pulled Logan's hand off the sill, looking at the wounds on there.

"I'm touched that you're concerned Doc, but I'm fine," Logan said, watching Hope as she watched his wounds heal over in a matter of seconds.

"Right, healing," Then the inner doctor in Hope kicked in, "That's incredible, I mean," Hope looked up at him, simple doctoral pleasure at healing written all over her face, "If your X-gene could be found, then if we could genetically alter humans to have the same genetic pattern, doctors could cure cancer, Parkinson's, and any number of diseases.!" Hope let go of his hand and went racing for her tape recorder, "Have you ever had any colds, flues, even the chicken pox?" Hope asked, pressing record and turning back towards Logan.

"I don't want to be part of your study Doc," Hope was a little thrown off by his serious look, but that had never stopped her before.

"Logan, I just want to ask you a few questions. Your powers could save hundreds of lives," Hope pressed on, she couldn't force the students to help, but surely it wouldn't cost her the job if she tried to persuade Logan.

"How Doc? You're going to have to run test if you want to use me for science, and I'm not sitting still for any test."

"Mr. Logan.."

"You called me Logan a few seconds ago," He interrupted, one eyebrow raised in defiance, or it seemed to be defiance from Hope's point of view.

"Are you going to help me if I call you Logan?" Hope countered, raising her chin and extra inch because it seemed to be needed when facing down Logan.

"No."

"Alright then, Mr. Logan, have you ever had any type of illness?" Hope tried again stepping closer, tape player held out towards Logan. "Any bad vision, weak joints, or other disabilities?"

"Doc, I'm not going play along with your little project," Logan said with a shake of his head.

"You've been guarding me because of my little project, Mr. Logan, you are playing along so why don't you just continue?" Hope trumped him, and the little flash of realization that crossed Logan's face made Hope' victory all the sweeter. "So, Mr. Logan, about those questions." Hope was deeply infuriated when Logan just shook his head and side stepped around her.

"Oh, the cold shoulder," Hope said and turned, grabbing Logan's arm as he passed past her, it startled her when Logan turned like lightning, and grabbed her shoulders in a vice like grip.

"I don't like doctors, or questions, Doc. I don't like your kind either, so are you going to push your luck?" His voice was like steel and ice, and even though Hope was slightly afraid, she could match that venom.

She curled her hands in to his shirt, pulling herself level with Logan's eyes, "I'm working on getting people, like me, to understand your kind, Logan, so why don't you sit down and help?" It was swift, surprising and not that bad, Hope would later think when Logan pressed her into a kiss. In surprise Hope released her grip on his shirt, and in that instant of release, Logan pushed her away. Hope watched him stumbling backwards, caught totally unaware. The glass on the floor jumped with the force of the closing door, but Hope closed her eyes slowly. She was shaken, completely to the bone by the action. For Logan the act of a kiss was incredibly personal, he wasn't a personal man. Steeling herself Hope pulled herself up, she wasn't going to go after Logan, he'd enjoy seeing her so thrown. Hope sat back down in her chair and picked up her journal, work erases everything. Of course work didn't block out the sensation of Logan's lips against her, how his fingers had tightened their already vice grip, God it was just as infuriating as the rest of him. Hope slammed her journal on the floor, and jumped to her feet, picking up the dropped tape recorder, she ejected the tape and tossed it in the box with the others, the tape recorder went with it. Hope dragged her hand through her hair, looking towards the window, damn window. Hope moved her hand from her hair to the space between her eyes, she had a head ach now. As good as an excuse as any, Hope thought downing a Advil, she crawled into bed and spent the time before she slipped into sleep thinking about how many ways she could kill Logan and not get caught.

------

Hope wasn't exactly sure what woke her, but suddenly she was awake and someone was in her room. Hope had a deep sense of personal space and there was definitely someone in the bedroom with her, but Hope stayed still. If she opened her eyes, bolted forward the person in the room would bolt, and Hope wasn't sure she could catch them. Instead Hope slowly slid her hand towards the nightstand next to her bed, as if she was just moving in her sleep. The glass she had used earlier in the evening was still there, if she could get it, hit the person, she might make it to Logan's room down the hall. Moving as quickly as she could, Hope grabbed the glass, and followed her gut, throwing the glass to the right corner of the room.

"Ow, ow," Hope jumped out of the bed , reaching for the lamp, if Logan arrived at the sound of the breaking window, he better respond to the lamp. A long, green, tongue closed around the lamp and pulled it out of Hope's grip, "Nope, sorry lady. Stay where you are."

"Okay," Hope paused, the voice was strangely familiar to her, "You're not hurt, are you?"

"Naw, your aim sucks," the voice answered, but Hope was thinking about where Logan was.

"Good, I don't like violence," Hope was actually looking for her next weapon, there wasn't much. "Do you have a name?" When the voice stayed quiet Hope smiled, she could feel the reluctance of the person in her room, "Mine's Hope, most people around her call me Doc, you can call me that if you like." Hope moved to look at the corner, trying to make out a form in the shadows, if someone was there they were crouched down, sitting like a frog.

"Eh, why don't you keep quiet, I don't think you should be talking." He was nervous about her talking, well Hope would just keep at it. A nervous boy who sat like a frog, why was that familiar to Hope?

"Oh I don't think anyone will hear me, I've got this hallway to myself, you know? I don't think Charles wants me near the students, I'm doing a study on them you know? What about you, are you a mutant?" Hope jumped from the bed as the door to the bedroom collapsed inward and Logan was thrown in, the same over weight teenager was standing in the doorway. Hope could see that her box marked junk was missing, and she lunged towards the door. Something wrapped around Hope's ankle and pulled her down. Hope tried to swing her leg around, connect to her captive, but her ankle was released. Logan grabbed her arm and dragged her to her feet.

"Let's go guys!" and the house started to move underneath Hope's feet, she grabbed Logan to steady herself, as the floor pitched and rolled under her.

"What's going on?" She yelled over the rumbling.

"You've been attacked," Logan said as the shaking stopped, "I'm going after them."

"Logan, everyone's awake now, listen," Hope paused and she could hear the confusion and sleep in the voices that drifted from the hallway, "I have to see what they've taken." Hope pushed away from him and ran into the room, instantly diving for her boxes, the few that remained packed. She began frantically opening them, looking for anything remaining of her project, even the damn tape recorder was taken.

"What's going on?" Charles was in the door with the students standing behind him.

"The Brotherhood broke in," Logan said, instantly taking charge, "Through the window that was broken earlier in the evening. I heard more glass shatter, and came in to find Avalanche and Blob standing guard."

"What's gone, Hope?" Charles asked, moving further into the room.

"My notes, all of them, not even my back up disk, which I kept in a different box," Hope said, getting to her feet.

"We have to act quickly," Charles said, but Hope stepped forward.

"You are not going to actually attack them for this?" She asked, following those who joined Charles as they moved down the hallway.

"Your notes are important to you aren't they Doc?" Logan asked, "We're just going to get them back."

"But we don't have to do it with a full frontal assault," Hope jogged a bit and stopped in front of everyone, "Why don't we give them a taste of their own medicine?"

"What do you mean Hope?" Charles asked along with the murmurs from the gathered students.

"I show up at their front door, with some enforcement, Mr. Logan, or you Professor, we could bring cops raise hell, and while we're doing this, Kurt and someone else look through the house find the box and come back," Hope explained, pleading with them, "If you attack out right the box and its contents could be destroyed. I don't want that, nobody does."

"She's right Charles," Logan said, and Hope was surprised there was a slight smile and look of… admiration, yes admiration in his eyes.

"Alright, Logan and I will go with you, Kurt, Kitty, you'll wait for my signal. Then act quickly." Hope nodded, and Hope followed quickly not hesitating to jump into the limo with no shoes on, in sweat pants and a Yankees jersey. Logan was just in jeans, and Charles was in a robe, it didn't matter to anyone. God, my research, Hope thought, keeping an outward appearance of calm. If she lost it here, she didn't think she could make a large enough fuss for the Brotherhood. It didn't take long to get to the house, or what could barely be called a house in Hope's opinion. The place was run down, decrepit and falling apart at the seems, Hope was ready to raise hell.

She jumped from the car and didn't bother to knock on the door, "Where are my notes!" She yelled, loud enough to shake the roof, or at least the floors above her. There was no way they could deny not being awake, every light in the house was on.

"What?" a girl, blonde hair came down the stairs, Hope would have lunged, or at least faked it if Logan hadn't put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"She wasn't there," He said, put Hope was mad as the Furies and wasn't about to let anyone stop that.

"What did you do with the stuff your friends stole from me?" Hope asked, voice low and dangerous.

"The boys were out late partying, Badger, who's she?" The girl asked, looking sleepily at Logan.

"Boom-boom, we're looking to talk with the boys," Logan said, and Hope pretended to struggle so she could get at this Boom-boom.

"Alright, alright, hold on," She said, putting her hands together Hope watched a small ball of yellow light form, then explode in her hands. That got the house going, the first down the stairs was nothing more the a blur, the second was a tall boy, no more that sixteen, with brown hair that fell into his eyes, next came a hopping boy with skin that was slightly green.

"It's you!" Hope yelled, "You came to the hospital asking for my help and then you just sat there in the corner and watched me sleep!"

"Toad, what is she talking about?" Boom-boom asked as Hope glared hard at Todd Tolensky.

"You broke into the mansion, all of you," Charles said as he joined the chaos in the house, everyone was assembled down stairs.

"You sat there in my room," Hope growled.

"Woah, Doc," Toad began.

"HA! I told you my nick name was Doc back at the Institute, gotcha!" Hope hissed.

"You can't prove anything," the sixteen brown haired kid said, stepping towards Hope, Logan stepped towards him.

"Of course we can Lance," Charles said, "We have cameras all over the Institute, if was catch you on film along with Logan's eyewitness report, we can have to police here to do a search."

"And if you run towards those stairs, speedy," Logan drew his claws, and pointed them towards a kid who was extremely thin with silver-white hair.

"You can't," The boy said quickly, "You tell the cops, how you gonna explain everything?"

"We've got it on film," Hope reiterated, "Why don't you be nice and give me back my things, we don't want any trouble."

"Yeah, guys why don't we give her back her things?" Toad was obviously worried about the insane look that had flashed into Hope's eyes.

"Look, we don't have your stuff, okay?" Lance said, though Hope highly doubted it, "Or at least not anymore, Mystique's got it."

"And where is she?" Logan asked,

"Long gone," Charles said, "Come on, Hope, Logan, we've done all we can." Hope was the last out the door and made sure to slam it with the force of a tornado, and slammed the limo door with the same force. Taking three deep breaths Hope exploded in laughter. She didn't mind that both Charles and Logan were looking at her like she had lost her mind, it was worth it.

"The look on his face," Hope explained when laughter wasn't fighting through, "Toad's or what ever they were calling him, he actually thought I'd hurt him."

"You looked like you were," Charles commented dryly.

"Oh, no, Mr. Xavier, I'm a pacifist," Hope wiped away a single tear, "Did Kurt or Kitty get the box?" Hope asked suddenly serious.

"They got what looked to be the correct box, you can go through it when we get back." Charles studied Hope, "That was a very clever plan you came up with, Doctor."

"Oh," Hope blushed, "I guess being a pacifist has forced me to think creatively." Hope was out of the car before Logan had pulled to a stop. She raced up the steps and into the main area, the box marked junk was sitting there waiting. Without a second though Hope dropped to her knees and ripped it open. There were the multi colored disk with her reports, the tapes, the recorder, but, "Was there a laptop?" Hope asked, looking up at Kitty and Kurt, who she had been ignoring.

"No, there wasn't, or at least I didn't see it," Kitty said, looking over at Kurt for confirmation.

"No, not computer." Kurt gave a shrug and shook his head.

"What was on the laptop, Doctor?" Charles asked as he joined in the conversation and the entrance hall.

"Notes, transcripts of the tapes, personal thoughts on all the information I had, medical notes, almost all of my finished work, and another article I'd just started," Hope listed, ticking off the points on her fingers.

"Is there anything on the laptop that isn't on one of those disk?" Charles asked, coming to look over Hope's shoulder into the boxes.

"Yes, there were valuable research notes, articles written by other researchers." Hope stood and looked down at the box with a scowl. She had just gotten those notes from the Internet, and needed them to start the next part of her theories.

"I'm not sure if we can get the laptop back, Hope." Charles was studying Hope, but Hope was focused on her work. Her out line for the third article was on there, and that had not been moved. Without those notes Hope would have to remember them, which might not be as hard as it sounds. Going through her tomes of medical books would waste time, time that she had wanted to use for getting solid medical evidence.

"It's all right, I can make up the missing work," Hope started to chew on her nail, another bad habit she had gained while working at Charity. "Thank you for all your help though, I'm grateful to have some of my work back."

"Logan, would you mind coming with me to my office, I'd like to hear about what happened from your point of view." Charles said, looking away from Hope over to Logan.

"Elf, Half-pint, go to bed," Logan ordered before walking off with Charles.

Hope smiled at both students, "Thank you once again, both of you."

"Can't we stay up and help you, Doc?" Kurt asked, looking hopeful.

"No, better listen to Mr. Logan, I don't want him mad at me, and I know neither of you want him mad at you," Hope insisted. She waited until they had climb the stairs and gone their separate ways before letting off a long string of creative curses. It wasn't her personally that was threatened, he had gone for her work, he life for the past fifteen odd years, that was very, very personal to her. Hope hefted the box and walked back into her room, still fuming. Tossing the box down Hope pulled out her large note pad, a pen, and the biggest book she had on genetic and DNA. Hefting the large book she walked down the steps, into the kitchen and turned on the small over table light. She had been continuing her research on the double recessive theory, it needed more ironing out, the editor of the medical journal had pointed out a few shortcomings, and Hope was determined to fix them. Taking a soda from the fridge Hope sat down to work late into the night just to make up what was missing.

------

Logan watched Charles as he was framed by the night, it was easy to tell he was tense. There were a lot of things that made Charles tense, always it was connected with his dream for mutants. "She's got her notes," Logan guessed at the topic of Charles current discomfort.

"It's not the missing notes that bother me, Logan," Charles said, turning towards Logan, his brow furrowed in a tight slanted line. "It's what Magneto might do with them."

Logan mused on that before shaking his head, "The Doc said that it was notes, medical stuff, Magneto might not be able to read it for all we know."

"You know as well as I do that Magneto is smart enough to figure it out. Why would he want the notes this badly, why didn't he try this first, Logan? Why attack Hope out right before stealing what he really wanted?" Charles drummed his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair.

"Who says he really wants the notes?" Logan offered, sitting on the arm of the large leather couch. Though he agreed with Charles he had to offer the other side, if only to help Charles think everything out.

"Would you send the team to watch over a room if what was in with wasn't what you really wanted?" Charles countered, his drumming fingers the only noise in the room.

"We need to know what was on the laptop, in depth, not just the glazed description the Doc gave us," Logan said after awhile.

"Ask her to make a list," Charles said, "Her mind's sharp and she'll remember a lot of what she wrote."

"Get her to start on it tomorrow," Logan said, getting to his feet.

"She's awake, talk to her now. She's in the kitchen." Charles made no comment to Logan's disgruntled shrug as he left, but the little smile didn't stay long. He wanted to find out Magneto's motives, now, before he went back to attacking Hope.

------

Logan watched Charles as he was framed by the night, it was easy to tell he was tense. There were a lot of things that made Charles tense, always it was connected with his dream. "She's got her notes," Logan guessed at the topic of Charles current discomfort.

"It's not the missing notes that bother me, Logan," Charles said, turning towards Logan, his brow furrowed in a tight slanted line. "It's what Magneto might do with them."

Logan mused on that before shaking his head, "The doc said that it was notes, medical stuff, Magneto might not be able to read it for all we know."

"You know as well as I do that Magneto is smart enough to figure it out. Why would he want the notes this badly, why didn't he try this first, Logan? Why attack Hope out right before stealing what he really wanted?" Charles drummed his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair.

"Who says he really wants the notes?" Logan offered, sitting on the arm of the large leather couch. Though he agreed with Charles he had to offer the other side, if only to help Charles think everything out.

"Would you send the team to watch over a room if what was in with wasn't what you really wanted?" Charles countered, his drumming fingers the only noise in the room.

"We need to know what was on the lap top, in depth, not just the glazed description the doc gave us," Logan said after a while.

"Ask her to make a list," Charles said, "Her minds sharp and she'll remember a lot of what she wrote."

"Get her to start on it tomorrow," Logan said, getting to his feet.

"She's awake, talk to her now. She's in the kitchen." Charles made no comment to Logan's disgruntled shrug as he left, but the little smile didn't stay long. He wanted to find out Magneto's motives, now, before he went back to attacking Hope.

Hope could have sworn she read the same line of words three times and it had yet to make sense to her. She understood there were four acids in DNA, she understood that only two opposing DNA's could match together, what she didn't get was her own theory. If the X-gene was a mistake in the joining of a certain DNA strand why wasn't there a more serious mutation? Then there was the heterozygous and homozygous gene parings, which if the parents of the mutant were all dominate gene parings, a dominate homozygous mix, how would the child have the double recessive genes needed for the X-gene? God, Hope's head hurt from thinking about it. DNA hadn't been her best subject when she was in Biology in college. Now her theories hinged on her understanding it. I'll get Hank to help me, Hope thought, trying to understand the diagram that the book said was helpful. It wasn't, but it didn't matter, Hope could wait until morning for Hank help, hell maybe the students could understand this better than she could.

"Here," Hope jumped back as a mug was placed under her nose, she looked up at Logan, a little of surprise and suspicion in her eyes, "It's not poisoned." Hope took the mug and leaned back in her chair, breathing in the coffee, even though it was cold, it was coffee.

"How can I help you, Mr. Logan?" Hope asked, slowly drinking the cold brew.

"Not me, Doc, Professor needs a list of everything, in detail of what you had on the computer," Logan said, standing just outside the circle of light cast by the single lamp.

"Oh lord, I've got a memory, but I'm not sure how much I can give you," Hope looked down at the six sheets of notes she had managed without an eraser.

"It'll come back to you," Logan muttered, tossing down the last of his coffee, "You can take the room I was using if you want."

"Why?" Hope had yet to see what was wrong with her room, but then she remembered seeing the room when she had gone to see what was missing, her room had been in shreds, "How long were you fighting with them for?"

"Good ten, you slept through most of it," Logan smiled; well it was more of a smirk.

"What woke you then, I thought it was the glass I threw at Toad." Hope closed her book, sliding the pad of paper to keep her spot.

"Wasn't asleep," His answer caused Hope to look over his shoulder at the clock, it was just reaching three.

"It was two maybe one o'clock in the morning, you have insomnia often?"

"I'm not your patient Doc, lay off." Logan looked away from her, and the new angle of light that played over his face showed he hadn't slept well for awhile.

"Well, everyone here's under my care, do you want something to help you sleep, something mild?" Hope offered, even if Logan bothered her she wasn't going to refuse treatment to anyone.

"Mild isn't gonna work, you're wasting your time, Doc."

"If you ever need anything medical Logan, don't hesitate to ask, though I think you will," Hope added, watching him walk out of the kitchen. Hope wasn't going to take his room, she'd sleep in the bed given her and wait until the room was repaired. If Magneto wanted to steal her notes, she'd defend them, and silently she told him so.

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Author's Note: Man, lots of chapters to post in this rewrite.

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	8. Chapter 8

A New Hope

Chapter Eight

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Hi, uh, nothing to say. Enjoy the re-write!

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Hope was not having a good day, and neither was anyone else it seemed. Driving rain kept the students inside, and since they were inside Logan had the brilliant idea to 'put them through their paces', which was giving Hope a headache. Student after student was coming in with all sorts of complaints, all of them trying to get out of today's session. "Kurt, your eyes have always been yellow, you have no fever and, your finger is not broken, go back," Hope said for the third time, taping her fingers on the edge of the third bed that was needed for those standing outside the door, waiting.

"But…but," Hope clamped a hand over Kurt's mouth, and gave him a steely eyed glare.

"I don't want to hear it Kurt, you go back to training, or I'll inform Mr. Logan of your efforts." Hope stumbled forward as Kurt disappeared. Coughing she waved away the smoke that was hanging around and turned towards those with actual medical problems. Bobby was back with a fractured finger, Hope had figured out the x-ray machine. She had also had the pleasure of resuscitating Berserker, Ray Crisp, which had been tense five minute ordeal that had ended well, but Hope was keeping him here for the rest of the day. "You boys okay?" Hope asked, walking over to open the door to the next patient.

"Yeah," Bobby called.

"You bet," Berserker answered, his voice not as strong as Bobby's, but Hope was grateful that she could hear it.

"Wolfsbane, what's wrong?" Hope asked as the girl pulled herself up onto the table and sat, feet dangling off the edge.

"Just got caught by one of Evan's spikes, Mr. Logan sent me down," the girl explained, Hope loved listening to the slight Scottish brogue in her voice.

"Well, let me see about that, you might get to spend some time with these two," Hope pulled over her stool and started to look over the shallow wound, "Hold still," Hope ordered when Wolfsbane jerked her shoulder away.

"Well you're the one who shocked me," she replied.

"Sorry to say I'm just going to clean this out and put a bandage over it, that should heal it quickly enough." Hope smiled at the girl, backing up on her stool she pulled open a draw and grabbed one of the larger bandages, and a small bottle of iodine. Still smiling Hope wheeled back over and started to spread the iodine over the cut. When she moved to place the bandage over Hope paused. The wound was gone, but hadn't she just run over it with the iodine over it? "I hope the iodine isn't too painful," Hope commented.

"Nope, don't feel a thing Doc," Wolfsbane replied, looking down, "Hey, where'd it go?" So she noticed it too, Hope thought, wiping away the iodine. There wasn't even a scar Hope noted.

"Have you ever had any sort of healing powers before?" Hope asked, pulling out the small note pad she kept in her jacket pocket, and made a note to check with Charles about this.

"No, you think my powers are evolving?" The girl sounded excited, Hope thought.

"Your shifting abilities may be changing, but why don't you go sit by Bobby and wait until I finish with those out in the hallway." Hope wasn't completely focused on the girls answer, she was thinking about what was going on. Taking a deep breath Hope pushed the oddity out of her mind and went back to work. The students who were in the hall had just finished a session with Logan, Hope made a new note to order more ice packs since students had walked away with multiples for the multiple bruises they had received. Chewing on her lip Hope addressed the problem of Wolfsbane's self-healing. I should get Logan, Hope thought, he'd understand this better than I do.

"Bobby, would you mind getting Mr. Logan for me, tell him it's urgent," Hope said, pulling out a pen light from the drawer with other little doctoral tools.

"What about my finger splint?" he asked, holding out the ice incased finger.

"That's right, sorry about that," Hope said, cursing her temporary forgetfulness. Wasn't she the one that told Bobby to keep it on ice while she got to work on Berserker? "I'll splint it and then you can go get Mr. Logan and give him your excuse note." Anticipating many of these types of injuries Hope, along with Kitty and Jean, had set the splints in easy reach. "Hold out your hand, and get rid of the ice," Hope ordered, sitting in front of Bobby's offered hand. She placed the finger in the bottom half of the splint, very careful as she held it in place with one hand.

She pulled the splint away to shape it more towards the shape of Bobby's finger, "Ouch!" Bobby suddenly yelled, pulling his hand back.

"Sorry, did I hit your finger?" Hope asked, not sure why Bobby had startled.

"No, you just shocked me," Bobby said, the tip of his finger in the mouth, he was sucking on it and what worried Hope was he wasn't in more pain from that.

"Doesn't that hurt, Bobby?" Hope asked, rocking back on the stool. Bobby took his finger from his mouth and looked down at it, puzzled.

"No, it doesn't," He sounded puzzled too. Hope got up and pulled the x-ray over. It was on a track in the ceiling and looked very similar to the ones Hope had seen in dentist office.

"Alright, Bobby, you know the drill," Hope said, placing the x-ray plate underneath his hand, and snapping a picture. Hope took three in total, all different angles on where the fracture had been. "I'll be back with these in a second, don't move, any of you." Hope pushed the x-ray machine out of the way and walked to the room where the three pictures would come out. She flipped off the lights in the back room of the hospital and slid the x-rays into the light table. Please, please still be broken, Hope thought, flipping the switch. She looked over the x-rays for five minutes, no fracture, not a single mark on the bone, anywhere, even when compared to the first three. What was going on, Hope asked herself, as she walked back into the room, still looking over the six x-rays.

"What do they say, Doc?" Bobby asked, he seemed as nervous as Hope was, but she wasn't about to tell him yet.

"Just stay put Bobby, the red button on the wall will reach me if you need me, I'm going to talk with Mr. Logan, and see if I can find the Professor," Hope said and walked out of the hospital without a second glance. If luck was holding, which it wasn't, Hope would find Logan in the Danger room, her first stop though would be the control room. Walking in Hope looked up from the x-rays, no one was in there, but that was okay, she just needed the intercom system. She flipped the switch on the microphone and looked down the room. Logan was easy to find, students surrounded him. He must be explaining something, Hope thought, and didn't mind interrupting.

"Mr. Logan, I need to see you in the control room for a second," Hope called, leaning down to speak into the mike. Logan didn't bother to look up, just waved a hand in her general direction and Hope figured that meant he'd be there soon enough. Hope flipped off the mike and began to tap the films against the counter. What was going on, she wondered. Suddenly everyone was healing themselves after dealing with Logan, could he be the cause? Hope continued to guess at reasons while chewing on her bottom lip in the gesture habitual to her thinking style. He had the power, but could he transfer it, and if he could how was that possible? None of the students had come in physical contact with Logan, well, Berserker had been carried down, but Bobby had fractured his finger in a fall, and Wolfsbane had been hit by a bone spike, none had been injured by Logan himself.

"Doc?" Hope jumped out of her thoughts, Logan had appeared and was looking at her in question.

"Sorry," Hope said, she distracted herself by spreading out the x-rays over the main console. She had developed the annoying habit of thinking about the single kiss Logan had given…no, taken from her when she looked at him. Instead of focusing on that she stepped back and motioned down to the x-rays, "Take a look at these would you?"

"Wouldn't that be your job, Doc?"

Hope rolled her eyes, she should have expected this, "Would you just look at them, please?" Hope growled, pointing down at the shot of the bones of Bobby's hand. Logan sighed and walked over to the pictures, he looked down and grunted.

"There hands," Logan pointed to the first set, "These are broken," he moved the finger to the second set, "There aren't."

"They're from the same person," Hope continued, trying to see if Logan's face triggered anything, but he stayed blanked faced, maybe a little curious, but nothing else, "They were taken hours apart."

"They're not mine," Logan, muttered looking a little annoyed, but Hope growled, and shook her head.

"Of course not, they belong to Bobby Drake," Finally Hope got a reaction from the man, even if it was only a raised eyebrow, "Does he have this ability, or should I talk with Mr. Xavier?"

"Charles isn't here, he's with Hank and Ororo on a call," Logan pulled the corner of his mouth in the tight line, "Are you sure he didn't patch it with ice?"

"Ice wouldn't show up on an x-ray, and I could still see through it. Mr. Logan, is it possible for Bobby to do this?" Hope asked her original question, drumming her fingers in impatience.

"No, Doc, Bobby shouldn't be able to do this," Now Logan looked worried, finally, Hope thought.

"Look, when you have a free moment, come to the hospital, there are a few more questions I want to ask you and your students are losing their focus." Hope pointed out one of the large glass windows at the students that seemed to be rioting.

Logan reached down and flicked on the mike, "Cut it out, or I'll make this longer," instantly every student stopped. "We're done here," he told them, and Hope could hear the sighs of relief from where she stood. "We'll talk now Doc."

"Have it your way, but we'll talk in the hospital," Hope snapped, snatching up the x-rays, and noticing how many of the students looked grateful for her interruption.

"Fine," Logan growled, switching off the mike they walked together in silence, Hope still going over possibilities.

"Get down from there," Hope called to Bobby who was reaching for her stash of ice cream she kept in the freezer along with the ice packs. "If you want some go get some from the kitchen, you are free to go," Hope turned towards Wolfsbane, "You too, though both of you might be called back to answer some questions."

"What about me?" Berserker asked, watching his only company leave.

"You had a mild heart attack, you stay," Hope said, motioning for Logan to follow her to the back room to talk, she didn't think the students should hear about this.

"What were those questions you had?" Logan asked staying within the doorway, leaning a shoulder on the wall.

"It wasn't just Bobby who was mysteriously healed, Wolfsbane also had an injury that healed on its own, now hers may be just her powers advancing. If she can change into a wolf, there may be other skin shifting feats she can perform, but Bobby's the oddity," Hope said while sliding in the x-rays and turning on the light table, "I started to wonder about what could cause this, what the single connecting factor in both of these students was." Hope drew a breath, "You."

"Me?" Logan looked skeptical, "I wasn't near these students when this happened."

"No, but you have had sustained contact with them, you were with them when you were working on their training, and your powers are self-healing, what if your powers have changed?" Hope leaned against the long metal table that the light table was on, studying Logan as he so often studied her.

"I would have noticed, Doc, I don't think these two spontaneous healings have anything to do with me."

"These x-rays aren't faked, they aren't taken weeks apart," Hope pointed her thumb over her shoulder, "These are from the same person, and they're from the same hand, Mr. Logan, what suggestions do you have?"

"Your machine is faulty, and Wolfsbane never had a cut." Hope stormed past Logan and grabbed the pair of rubber gloves she had used when looking over Wolfsbane's wound, turning back she brandished them at Logan.

"Whose blood do you think that is?" Hope asked, one had waving the gloves, the other fisted on her hip, her chin jutted out an extra inch, "How do you think it got there?" Logan still watched her skeptically, "Would you like me to do a DNA test and prove to you its Wolfsbane's blood?"

"Alright Doc, say my powers are changing, what do you suppose I do about it? Neither kid was hurt by it, and I'm not hurt by it," Logan commented with a shrug and distant look. Hope was actually stuck dumb, which was a very hard thing to do considering her intelligence.

"He's got a point there," Berserker joined in the conversation, earning a glare from both parties.

"Mr. Logan this may just be just the beginning, something worse might happen, what if your power reverses, so that you're touch becomes a necrosis or your metabolism begins to work at a speed that eats away at you, there are other things that could happen here," Hope ranted, she hadn't dealt with these kind of things before and learning to deal with them was going to take some getting use to.

"Doc, just breath, stop, and listen, the Professor will be back tomorrow, I'll be fine until then," Logan said walking past her, "I'll make sure two dinners are sent down to both of you." And he walked out the door, leaving a very furious Hope in his wake.

"That man is going to get himself killed and I will stand over his grave and laugh," Hope said to herself, forgetting that there was a set of ears in the room besides her own.

"You don't really mean that do you?" Berserker asked, looking shocked that mild mannered Doc had uttered something so mean.

"Ask me again when I haven't just lost an argument," Hope took a deep breath and tossed down the gloves, "You want rocky road or mint chocolate chip?"

"You're going to let me have some of the ice cream?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Hope said as she pulled out the two little quart containers, "Ice cream is an excellent sedative."

"Rocky road."

------

Logan slid into the chair in the communications room, and typed in the number of the direct line to Black Bird. Ororo's face fitted the screen and Logan slid on the head set, "Where's Charles?" he asked directly, actually shaken by the Doc's suggestion.

"Right here Logan," the image changed to Charles, and Logan leaned back in his chair.

"Did you find it?" He asked, business first. Charles had gone to track down a lead on the Doc's laptop and some information that sounded like her work.

"No, but it was definitely her work, how it got leaked the source won't tell, but that's not the reason you called is it?"

Logan sighed, "No, the doc was taking care of a few of the squirts today, each had a legitimate reason being there, Bobby broke his finger, Wolfsbane got a scratch," Logan held up a finger when Charles would have interrupted, "The Doc comes to get about an hour later and claims that Bobby's broken finger healed and Wolfsbane's scratch also healed."

"Did Dr. Chandler have any idea how this might have happened?" Charles was worried again, his brow drawn together and he was frowning into the screen.

"She thinks it's my doing," Logan sighed and dropped the fake relaxed look, "She believes my powers are evolving."

"Have you felt any different, Logan, anything odd?" Charles also leaned forward, also concerned.

"Fit as a fiddle Charles, haven't felt odd at all," which worried Logan the most, there was nothing wrong with him, and there should be if his powers were changing.

"Alright Logan, we should be back by morning, we'll talk over it in the morning with the Doctor," Charles looked saddened, "Until then, Logan, take precautions to stay away from the students."

"Yeah, I know," Logan said, sliding off the head set and turning off the screen, "Yeah."

------

Hope didn't mind staying with Berserker until he fell asleep, she ever draped a blanket over him and kept the lights low, but she wasn't going to join him in sleep. There was just too much running through her head, how had both students been healing and why had Logan showed no symptoms of a change, as most other mutants did? Hope had pulled out her sheets of notes and gone over the information she had, and it still didn't make sense. Now she had the TV screen down and was looking over the surveillance tapes of the two injuries. It was exactly as Hope remembered, Wolfsbane cut had just sewn its self together, and in one instant Bobby had been getting fitted for a brace and then he didn't need it. What were the similarities between the two, Hope asked herself, splitting the screen between the two students. Logan had worked with both students for one, then they'd both come here for treatment, and both had been miraculously healed. Hope tilted her head, both had come for treatment, that was ringing in her head. Hope quietly picked up the gloves, she had yet to get rid of them, they were evidence to her, and proof Wolfsbane had been cut. Being careful to avoid the blood Hope examined both gloves; maybe just maybe, Hope thought. Just as careful Hope slipped on the right gloves, it was in perfect condition, and then she slipped on the left, and turned her hand over. There was a small tear at the second joint of the middle finger. Hope pulled off the gloves and leaned against the sink's edge. She had touched Bobby without gloves, she'd touched Wolfsbane through the tear, and both had healed, could it be that she had healed them? Hope shook her head in denial, she did have any X-gene, she wasn't a mutant, but Mike was. Hope scrambled to the phone that was hidden in the wall and dialed Mike's number, he'd be awake.

"Chandler Farms, what can I do for you?" Mike's cheery voice answered, thought Hope knew he had put in a long workday and was probably tired.

"Can you answer a few questions for your baby sister?" Hope asked, careful not to wake Berserker by talking to loud.

"Hey, baby sister, how are you?" Mike was obviously very happy to hear from Hope, but Hope would delay the pleasantries.

"Mike I know you don't like talking about it, but how are your…powers?"

"Is that why you called me, to get me involved with your project?" Hope could hear the hurt in his voice, but pushed it away.

"This isn't for my project, Mike, I'm begging you, how are your powers?" Hope knew the desperation she was feeling had seeped into her voice, and hoped it had made it through to Mike.

"Just as unobtrusive as ever Hope, they help my farm, but don't hurt a soul. Why, what's wrong?"

Hope ran a hand through her hair, and looked back toward Berserker, "Nothing Mike, I've just been worrying lately, about you."

"And the first thing you ask about are my so called powers? Hope, what's really eating at you, if you were worried about me you'd ask me when the last time I got my blood looked at."

"It's my job, Mike, I've been taking care of your for awhile, I'm allowed to call randomly and ask random questions," Hope lied, something she wasn't very good at, "Alright, I've got a case to tend to, and you're probably tired, so get some sleep maybe I'll call you tomorrow morning."

"All right baby sister, I hope you sleep well." Hope was the first one to hang up and drummed her fingers on the wall next to the phone. Mike was fine, his powers weren't causing him problems, so what if Hope's gloves had a tear in them, did it really matter? Still that little voice of doubt was biting at Hope's heels. Mike had mutant powers, so logically so could she, but what could they be? If they were just healing others then Hope was ecstatic. She lived to heal others, but could they be something more sinister? Maybe she should find Logan, talk to him about this, neither of them had thought it could be her that the events stemmed from. Yet, Hope thought, I'm still not sure if it was me, so I'll keep this to myself until I have more evidence. Hope bit into her lower lip, she didn't like betraying the trust of those here, but a pair of torn gloves wasn't enough evidence to convince the most open-minded person. Hope pulled herself up onto the opened bed and decided it was better to try and sleep on it.

------

"All right," Hope said, pushing the hand that was shaking her shoulder off, "What is it?"

"The Professor wants to talk to you," Berserker said, he was the one to wake her, which didn't surprise Hope, but waking up to see Charles at the foot of the bed Hope had chosen was.

"Oh, hello Professor, what do you want to talk about?" Hope curled her legs under her and sat facing Charles, a slightly sleepy smile on her face.

"Logan told me you had some strange events happen here yesterday," Charles began.

"Yeah, I was right here, man it was weird," Berserker jumped in, eagerly trying to get a word in edge wise.

"Thank you, Ray, I'll talk to you in a second," Charles said raising a hand to stop Berserker mid sentence, "I hoped you could clear a few things up for me Doctor."

"Sure," Hope slid off the bed, "I'll be right back." When she returned she had the x-rays, and set them before Charles, "Bobby Drake, Iceman, presented with a fracture of the left index finger, before I could splint the finger, Ray here, showed up, stopped his own heart again, almost completely forgot about it. When I went to splint the finger, I had cause to x-ray it again, the second set of x-rays showed no fracture."

"And you are sure it was broken the first time around?" Charles asked holding up the x-rays to the light.

"Oh yes, there was a very clear fracture that even Mr. Logan was able to spot. Something like that," Hope pointed to the fracture, "would not heal in a few hours, that would be at least three weeks of being splinted, and I'd want to do a follow up set of x-rays to make sure it was healed. Now the second odd case was Rahne Sinclair, Wolfsbane, who presented about thirty minutes after Bobby, had a shallow cut on her right shoulder, I had been about to bandage the wound when it too spontaneously healed. Did Mr. Logan tell you the two theories I came up with?"

"Yes, but I don't see how you came to the conclusion that this was caused by Logan, his powers have always kept to himself, it doesn't seem logical that he would suddenly evolve powers that would transfer to others."

"Does it seem logical that a child could have beams of high power laser beams from his eyes, sir, but with Mr. Logan's healing powers it would make sense that it might make sense that he could be responsible," Hope said, stretching her arms over her head.

"I'd like to talk with both students right now, but please make sure I can find you."

"Of curse Professor," Hope said, watching Charles until the door closed behind him, "Alright, Ray, let's get you check over and make sure you're okay to go." Hope started by listening to his heart and finished with an EKG, and Berserker was free to go. Hope also escaped the hospital, taking to her room she quickly changed and now stood in front of her book shelves looking for her book on the central nervous system and cell regeneration. Books she had back in her college days that didn't seem important then, but were now lined every shelf. If she could just remember where she had put them. She wanted the book on cell regeneration because of the chapter on how cells repair themselves. She wanted the book on the nervous system because she couldn't quite remember what caused static electricity. Bobby had been shocked, Wolfsbane had also, so the logical question was to look into static electricity. Hope grabbed her stool and started to pull books down, they had to be here. Of course maybe you left them in the apartment, Hope thought, tossing a text on anaphylaxis over her shoulder. Jumping down Hope stared up at the emptied shelves, neither text was there or on the floor. No problem, Hope thought, picking up her keys and heading out of her room. She'd get the books from the Bayville library, they had those books, Hope knew that for sure. Hope kept up the brisk pace to the garage, sleep wasn't going to help when Hope was jazzed on a thirst for knowledge.

"Hey, Doc, how are you?" Scott asked, he was working on his car, which Hope admired, but didn't have time to.

"Scott, if anyone ask where I went, would you tell them I'm at the library," Hope said, opening the driver side door to her Santa Fe.

"Yeah, sure," Scott replied as Hope tore rubber as she drove out of the garage. It wasn't her life that depended on figuring out if it was her or Logan that cause this, it was those at the Institute. Hope knew that unchecked mutant powers were dangerous, even if they were healing. Hope tapped her fingers on the wheel while listening to Nat King Cole. When in doubt, Hope thought, there's always Cole. Hope jumped out of the car, locking it she rushed into the library earning a glare from the librarian. Why would my copies of these books be missing? Hope thought, pulling the monumental text on the nervous system from the shelf. Hope had unpacked all the boxes she had brought with her, she had placed those books on the shelves, why weren't they there now? Hope told herself it didn't matter as she tucked both books under her arm and moved to the check out line. She had the books now that was enough, Hope told herself as she jumped back into her car. I'll consult with Hank when I get back, Hope thought. The warning was the ground shaking, and Hope slammed on the breaks as the street before her lurched upwards and walled off her route. Hope slammed on the breaks and turned the car so the passenger side hit first. There were the sounds of breaking glass, twisting metal, and screaming breaks when Hope crashed into the protruding section of street. Clutching the large bump on her forehead Hope stumbled from the car and stopped when she came face to face with the Brotherhood.

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Author's Note: I'm just putting this here, don't know why, just am.

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	9. Chapter 9

A New Hope

Chapter Nine

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Hi everyone, I'm Lily and I'm bored. Enjoy the rewrite. Note to all reading, I'm not changing a lot, mostly because I really like the later chapters.

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The warning was the ground shaking, and Hope slammed on the breaks as the street before her lurched upwards and walled off her route. Hope slammed on the breaks and turned the car so the passenger side hit first. There were the sounds of breaking glass, twisting metal, and screaming breaks when Hope crashed into the protruding section of street. Clutching the large bump on her forehead Hope stumbled from the car and stopped when she came face to face with the Brotherhood.

------

"Jean, have you seen Dr. Chandler?" Charles asked, as he came into the main sitting room, "I need to talk with her." There was something about the Doctor's theories on Bobby and Rahne; something in how they healed wasn't fitting.

"No, Professor, I haven't," Jean answered looking up from the schoolwork she was doing.

"I have, Professor," Scott said, walking in from a side door, wiping grease from his hands.

"Where, Scott?" Charles turned towards the boy as he walked towards him.

"She left, Professor, said she needed something from the library." Charles sighed.

"Professor!" Kurt appeared and dropped to the floor next to Charles, "There's something you ought to see." Kurt scrambled over to the panel in the wall and on the coffee table where Jean was working a slit opened and another hidden plasma screen appeared. Kurt grabbed the remote and changed to the news.

"This is chopper seven news and we are at the intersection of Main and 5th where there is an incredibly strange accident involving one car and…the road its self." Everyone in the room froze at the image on the screen. Hope was backed against her car, the Brotherhood stood in semi-circle that was slowly closing in on her.

"Scott, get everyone ready, there's trouble."

------

Hope was not going to be able to stand up much longer. She had diagnosed herself with a mild concussion that was slowly getting worse, probably had a fractured, if not broken, ankle, and her car was totaled. With no means of escape Hope was trapped between revenge seeking teenagers and a hard place. "What do you want?" When in doubt, keep them talking, Hope thought.

"Nothin'," Toad said, springing forward, "Okay, maybe a little revenge, but nothin' really."

"I'm sorry about the way I acted when we dropped by that night, but you now how people act when there stuff gets stolen, so how can I make it up to you?" Hope chuckled, pressing herself tighter against the side of the car.

"Stand still," Lance said as he threw his hands forward and the ground started to lurch towards Hope. Hope jumped to the side, and into the arms of the speedy kid.

"Gotcha," he grinned, having Hope reach for the nerve in his shoulder, but he was gone before Hope could grab a hold of him. Hope fell forward as Toad perched on her shoulder, driving her further into the asphalt as he sprang away. Hope rolled towards the car, and crawled under it, hoping for some protection. That did last long either, Hope rolled on to her back, propping herself up on her elbows as the car was lifted off of her, and Hope stared in wonder. For being incredibly over weight the kid was strong, Hope thought, as she brought her arms up to cover her eyes against the falling glass and pebbles. There was a blinding flash, static crackled in the air and a stunned groan. Hope opened her eyes to see the car lifting kid waver, and begin to fall forward. Hope scrambled out of the way, only to get knocked to the ground at the force of the dropping car. Jumping to her feet Hope started to look for Berserker, he had to be the one who took out the large kid, but there was no sign of anyone from the Institute. Hope jumped as her hands were held behind her, the fast kid had captured them behind her. Hope struggled against the kid's hold, begging to hear the sound of approaching sirens, or a helpful citizen, anyone!

There was a hiss of metal, "Let her go, bub," Hope sighed at the familiar voice and her mind gratefully called out 'Logan!'.

"Gotta catch me first." Hope stumbled forward as she was suddenly released. Logan jumped down from the hood of the wrecked Santa Fe, and stood defensively in front of Hope.

"You okay?" He asked as Hope looked over his shoulder to see the whole team from the Institute coming to her defense.

"I'm fine," Hope mumbled, shaking her head to clear it. The concussion was clouding Hope's vision, and she had to add cuts from the glass and stones on the street to her list of injuries. "Watch out!" Hope yelled as Scott was thrown sideways into Logan. Hope's eyes locked onto Lance's and when he threw his hands forward, Hope threw her own up, shielding against the wider more powerful attack than the last one. Hope watcher her own hands as they let loose a stream of white bolts. They connected with Lance and he dropped like a stone. That froze everyone, including Hope. Though her hands no longer were pouring out bolts of…something, she couldn't move her arms down.

"I think I'm going to pass out now," Hope said before plunging into the concussion.

------

"Charles?" Ororo poked her head inside the Professor's office, and took one tentative step inside when she saw that he was sitting by the large window, looking out on the grounds, "Hope is stable and seems well enough."

"Any word of how the Brotherhood boys are?" Charles asked still watching the grounds.

"Both woke up in the ambulances and have escaped," Ororo answered, walking further into the room. "Did Cerebro give you an information?"

"No, she doesn't appear as a mutant," Charles turned to face Ororo, "She has the gene though, there's no doubt in that fact."

"The news hasn't figured out who she is yet, so there's one small miracle," Ororo said, sitting before Charles, "Do you think we should call her family?"

Charles sighed, "And tell them what? The only member we could call is her brother, but he won't be able to do anything. No, we'll wait, she'll wake soon, and we'll see. I'm calling everyone here, I want to talk with them." Ororo nodded and listened as Charles's voice echoed through her head, asking everyone who was involved in this mornings attack to come to his office. It didn't take long for everyone file in to the office.

"What did you call us for, Professor?" Scott asked, standing near the door.

"I wanted you all to keep this to yourselves, no one spreads rumors to the rest of the students, until we know more about what happened," Charles ordered, looking each student in the eye, along with the staff members.

"And what do we tell them when they ask about what happened to the Doc?" Logan asked, leaning against the wall.

"Exhaustion, would be the best excuse, she's been staying up late working on making up the stolen research," Hank stepped forward, "I've helped her with it and can vouch it would do well enough to keep away those who are curious."

"Good, I'd like you to stay with her, Hank, you know her the best," Charles nodded, "What we all saw today may just be a fluke, Cerebro hasn't picked up on her, if she has powers they aren't developed."

"Do we know what she did to Lance?" Kitty asked slowly, shuffling her feet, and staring at the floor.

"No, but both have recovered, I think it would be best if someone could talk to them, ask them what happened, but I don't believe they will answer. The only choice we have is to keep this quiet." Everyone nodded, "Good, back to what you were doing." Logan was the only one that remained after everyone else had left, "What's troubling you, Logan?"

"How's the Doc doing mentally, Charles?" Logan didn't look at Charles, his eyes were restlessly roving the room, settling on nothing.

"She's not thinking just yet, Logan," Charles watched his old friend, "Why don't you go wait with Hank?"

"Do you think Magneto knows about what's happened?" Logan asked, skillfully avoiding the question that was too personal for Logan to answer.

"By now, Magneto might know something," Charles watched Logan turn towards the door, but Charles had one thing left to say, "Logan if you're worried about her, go see her." The door was held open for a split second; the grunt of 'maybe' was almost lost as the door finally closed.

------

Thank god they didn't intubate me, Hope thought as she came around to consciousness. For the most part Hope remembered what happened to her, she remembered she needed to buy a new car, she had to pay the library for the two ruined books, and she had to study her own X-gene. Hope sighed, and struggled forward, she saw Hank sitting in the corner reading Sherlock Holmes. "What time is it?" Hope asked, but it didn't startle Hank.

"Around one in the afternoon," Hank answered, folding the book closed and meeting Hope's slightly glazed look. "How are you feeling?"

"If you look in the top left shelf and get me some Advil I'll be much better," Hope said, pressing her hand against the large bruise that was over her life temple. When I turned the car and slammed on the breaks my head jerked to the left, Hope remembered. "Also an ice pack from the fridge."

"Here you are," Hank said, handing over the Advil and ice pack. Hope tossed down the medicine and pressed the ice pack tentatively against the bruise. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, but nothing heavy, soup and crackers would be best," Hope said, and wasn't surprised that Hank only had to turn to the counter and bring over a tray. "You always planed ahead don't you, Hank?"

"For you, Hope, I would plan ahead for years," Hank said, bringing the chair he had been sitting in before Hope as she started to eat.

"Well, I'm glad," Hope said, "What are you doing down here Hank?"

"I'm watching over you, since I have the most medical knowledge," Hank pulled a chart from the end of the bed and handed it over to Hope, "You can see for yourself."

"I should have scratches on my hands, knees, from when I fell, I don't," Hope wondered looking down at her hands.

"You didn't have any Hope," Hank said, pulling out a pen light, "Come on stander procedure, follow the light with your eyes." Hope followed the light, answered the standard, do you know where you are, and other such questions.

"I would like to get some work done, Hank, do you think you could bring me the note pad in my room, it's on the coffee table," Hope asked when the test were finished.

"Of course," Hank said before he left and instantly Hope was back laying down. The space between her eyes pounded, her hands still weren't as steady as she would have liked, and there was deep sense of foreboding looming over her head. What was next for her, what would she have to change about her life style, what would she have to sacrifice? Hope didn't like the idea of losing her family, but she could keep it a secret like Mike did, but she hated keeping secrets from her family.

"Hope?" Hank was back and Hope pulled herself forward, looking down at her notes Hope felt a sudden disgust for them. They brought her into this, they were the cause of every problem, but being mad at them wasn't going to solve anything.

"Thank you, Hank," Hope smiled and took up the pen, "Can I ask you some questions?"

"Of course you can," Hank returned to his seat, "Okay, first question."

"I know most of your early history, so we'll skip that, but what was is it like, living in the world were at any second you might become the beast?" Just distract me Hank, Hope thought, listening to Hank's answer, get me to think of anything else but this morning.

"Ah good, you're awake," Charles was Hope's next visitor, and Hope gratefully put down the pen and pad of paper, she'd trounced Hank at 43 games of tic-tac-toe and had lost 35, it was getting annoying.

"Yes, takes more than a concussion to keep a doctor down," Hope said happily, turning towards Charles.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, looking at Hope's lovely bruise.

"Like I survived a car crash, but I'm taking Advil, I take something stronger, but morphine or vicodin would be too much after concussion," Hope told him, nervously crunching the ice pack in her hands.

"Good, now Doctor, I have to ask you about this morning," Charles suddenly look incredibly serious and it started Hope a bit, "Can you remember it?"

"Most, not all, some of my memories are fuzzy. My car is gone, the Brotherhood is still after me, and you came to my rescue," Hope said simply.

"Do you remember your part in stopping the Brotherhood?"

"Yes, I do. I don't understand it, but I do remember." Hope vividly remembered the light, white and clear, the slight burn of it as it flew from her fingers, by God she remembered.

"Have you tried doing it again?" Charles looked as intense as Hope had ever seen him, it was like the man exuded power.

"No, I haven't, but you would like me to wouldn't you?" Hope met the intensity and felt her hesitation disappear.

"If you think you can," Charles offered. Hope drew in a deep breath and looked down at her hand. She could see in her mind the light, feel almost on her hands the light, but when she tried to create the bolts, nothing happened.

"The X-gene usually appears physically under a stressful situation, whether the stress is mental or physical, if it is strong enough the X-gene will awake from a dormant state and move from the subconscious control to conscious control," Hope recited her own theory with a sigh, "If I have the X-gene then mine is still under subconscious control."

"It's not a problem, Dr. Chandler, you didn't kill those two boys, you seemed to have stunned them," Charles laid a comforting hand on Hope's knee, and smiled up at her, "I'd like you to take the day off, spend it resting."

"Of course Professor," Hope sighed, "I'd like to warn you that my father may call, he'll easily see it's me on the news and he won't be fooled by the media not knowing."

"If he does I'll send the call down here for you to answer. I glad you weren't injured, Hope."

"Thank you Charles," Hope smiled as Charles left, and turned back towards Hank, "You don't have to hang around either, I've got everything I might need for entertainment here, and you've probably got students to work with, I don't want to hold you up."

"I've got the day off along with you, Hope," the phone ringing interrupted, "That would be your father." Hope leapt to her feet and grabbed the phone quickly, she didn't want her father asking questions about Hank.

"Dad, what brings you to call, don't you have an empire to run?" Hope started, trying to distract her father with the important Chandler Shipping Company.

"What kind of father would I be if I didn't check up on my little girl when she's on the news?" the booming baritone of Marcus Chandler echoed through the phone and had Hope wincing.

"What channel?" Hope asked, turning the TV on and flipping through the channels, hoping not to land on her own image.

"Seven, but tell me deary, how are you, really?" Hope softened at her father's concern.

"I'm fine, I'm in a hospital because of a concussion, and no that doesn't mean you back mother in a plane and fly up here to check on me, I'm treating myself," Hope said, stopping at the news that had footage of this mornings encounter running.

"Well then, you've got the best doctor available don't you?"

"Thanks Dad, but let's get serious, has anyone figured out it's me?" The publicity that Chandler Shipping would receive if the media found out wouldn't be good publicity.

"No, but I have the lawyers sitting by to handle any problems that arise," Marcus sighed, "you shouldn't worry about little things like being on the news, Hope, every news station in the country knows your sister is going to take over the family business."

"Dad, thanks for calling," Hope said, suddenly home sick missing her family extremely strongly.

"Anytime, Hope, just be careful." And Hope hung up with a sigh, she wanted to tell her father about why her fingers had spewed bolts of light, why she was worried about being a problem with the media, but her father would try to get her medical help, which wasn't available for her.

"How is the patriarch of the Chandler family?" Hank asked as Hope pulled herself back into the bed, sitting Indian style towards him.

"He's still enjoys fine whiskey and a cigar on the porch with the sun going down every evening," Hope replied, remembering evenings when she had listen to her father ramble on about the stars and smell of fine whiskey, and cigar smoke, that was home.

"Well, that's the best way for Marcus to spend his time, besides making money," Hank smiled. One college visit had introduced Hank to Hope's family, and her father had named Hank an official member of the Chandler clan. What would he think now, Hope wondered, studying Hank's beast face. He hoped he wouldn't care, but Hope couldn't be sure. Time moved slowly for Hope, she was desperately tired, but she couldn't sleep, she desperately wanted to do something, anything, but she couldn't, not when recovering from a concussion. Hank was a helpful distraction from everything, he read some of his novel to her, though he solved the mystery before Hope did, and they spent time playing 'Six degrees of Kevin Bacon', but now Hope was alone and awake in the hospital. Hank had long since gone to bed, leaving Hope with her own thoughts to keep her company. Her thoughts weren't doing very well at keeping her company. She wanted to understand what had happened to her, but her thoughts were slow. She had so far figured out that it wasn't electricity that had flown from her hands, but that was about it. She couldn't figure out what it had been unless she talked with the Brotherhood members, and that was probably never going to happen. Hope looked up as the door opened, she wasn't expecting anyone least of all she hadn't been expecting Logan to step in.

He looked just as surprised that Hope was staring at him and blinked in surprise for a few seconds, "Why are you still awake?" He asked.

"I can't sleep after having a concussion, I may slip back into unconsciousness," Hope said and slid back further on to bed, "Come, have a seat," She offered, but didn't think that Logan would take her up on it. She wasn't surprised that he stayed standing though he moved further into the room.

"How are you?" He asked, looking anywhere but at her, which Hope pretended not to notice.

"Tired, but alive, so I'm feeling okay." Logan nodded in response, and Hope caught how uncomfortable he was at finding her awake, "If you were looking for Hank he's in his room," Hope offered, trying to understand what he was uncomfortable about. He seemed reluctant to say anything, reluctant to move, and reluctant to leave, which confused Hope to no end, or that might have been the exhaustion. "Is there something you want Mr. Logan?"

"Nothin'," He said, turning on his heal he made to leave sent Hope to her feet for some reason.

"Wait, please," Hope placed a restraining hand on his arm. She had no idea why she didn't want Logan to leave, she just didn't, so Hope came up with a comfortable excuse, "I didn't have a chance to thank you for rescuing me today."

"I wasn't the only one there," Logan rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, the action caused Hope to smile.

"But, still I want to thank you," Hope still didn't know what she was doing as she rose onto her tip toes and lightly kissed him, she just did. It wasn't surprising that Logan kept his lips stiff and hard under Hope's, but for some reason Hope didn't want to leave it at the simple kiss it was. Hope gently cupped Logan's face and drew him deeper. Neither would remember who changed the kiss, and later it wouldn't matter. The gentle press became fierce, powerful, passionate. Logan's arms wrapped around Hope's hips and pulled her closer, Hope moved her arms to wrap around Logan's neck and dove into the power of the kiss. She felt him lift her up and carry her back to the bed, but when he set her down, he released her, setting his hand to the bed beside her, and pulled back, away from her. Hope took in a deep breath and looked into Logan's eyes, wondering what was going on. She could tell Logan was fighting with himself, fighting what was happening between them. Hope ran her hands over his shoulder, down his arms and placed her hands over his.

"I'm glad you came to check on me," Hope said, taking in what had just happened before in her room, what was happening now, was bound to happen again, because she wanted it to, for some strange reason.

"Just get better Doc," Logan said, kissing her forehead before he left. Hope sat there, wondering how she had let him walk away, and why she felt the need that he should walk away. God, her concussion had made her crazy, the only explanation for it. Hope laid down on the bed and decided it was better to risk unconsciousness then deal with what had just happened.

------

Author's Note: Aww, the kiss! Love that scene, couldn't really change it.

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	10. Chapter 10

A New Hope

Chapter Ten

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Hi again. Any questions about the Hope Series, email me at sighed into her first cup of coffee as she sat outside on the Institute's front steps. She had taken to waking up early and watching the sunrise from the steps. It was better for her health, or that's what Hope kept telling herself. She spent her mornings on the steps because she wanted to be there when Logan came back. Two weeks had gone by since Hope had been attacked, two weeks since Logan had taken off on his motorcycle into the dead of night and Hope felt something was missing. Not just in herself, but the whole Institute seemed to have a gaping hole in it. Hope sighed again as the sun peeked over the walls of the Institute, brilliant and cheerful. Hope certainly didn't feel brilliant and cheerful. Her latest study had been turned down by her original publisher, and now every trip she took to her P.O. box was filled with dread. If one thing was going right it was that the Brotherhood was ignoring her completely. They didn't even like to look at her if they happened to pass her on the street, thank God. Action, Hope thought, just what I envisioned my life being. Hope got to her feet, the coffee in her hands no longer warm, and stepped to the side. She had heard the thunder of teenage footsteps before the door was thrown wide and kids came rushing out.

"Morning, Doc!" Half of the mass called as they made their way towards the gates of the school. Hope gave them a nod and smile in reply. The nickname had settled in with the whole school, only increasing the longing Hope felt for Logan. She even missed his suspicious looks and glares.

"Fancy finding you here," Hank appeared, a cup of coffee in his large, furry hand. "Seeing off the masses?"

"You could say that," Hope answered, sipping her cold coffee, "I thought I should get some air before I locked myself in the infirmary and worked myself to the bones."

"You're not sleeping well," Hank tried to comment off handily, but Hope caught on quickly and let him know with a sigh, "Forgive my concern?"

Which made Hope feel lower than scum, "It's not your fault, Hank." She said and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I haven't been myself lately, have I?"

"For two weeks to be exact," Hank smiled behind his coffee mug, trying to hide it from Hope's eyes. Hope could easily tell what Hank was insinuating, and felt like sighing again, but held herself in check. "There's still no sign of him. The Professor tried to locate him, with no luck."

"Hank, how much do you see around here?" Hope laughed a little, but it quickly turned back to frowning into her reflection.

"I'm good enough friends with Logan to tell when something is bothering him, and I've known you for years, you can't hide from me." Hank reached up and gave Hope's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You shouldn't worry, Hope, Logan can take care of himself."

"Of course he can, he can heal himself." Hope pressed her free hand into her eyes, "I shouldn't care any ways, I can bet he's not worried about me."

"You never can tell with Logan," Hank said before he turned and went back inside. Hope stayed outside, looking towards the little parts of the street that she could see between the iron bars of the gate. Off in the distance Hope could hear the wail of an ambulance siren. What would be rolling into Charity? Hope wondered, home sick for the hospital. Suddenly Hope had a light bulb moment. It was time for her to visit Charity and spend some time among old friends. Hope burst through the front door with renewed energy and was practically sprinting back to her room. Throwing on her shoes Hope grabbed her shoulder bag from the back of the chair and turned towards the house intercom. At this hour Charles would be in his office, so Hope patched the message to that room.

"I'm going to visit Charity today, Professor," Hope said when the answering machine picked up instead, "I'll be back before curfew, and I'll have my phone with me." Hope walked out the door with a smile, the first smile she'd had in day. Her car was still in repairs, and Hope knew Forge wasn't just banging the dents back into place, but probably adding in bullet proof, shatter proof glass and armor siding. But that was okay with Hope, if that kept her from being attacked then Forge could make her a tank. Humming while she walked Hope thought about how big of a wrench she would throw into the works of the ER. A large, rusty one, Hope thought with a rueful grin. There was always so much to do in the ER in one day. It was smooth running, but it would always be frantic. Hope remembered watching TV. shows like the amply named 'ER' in the lounge when things slowed down, that show was good, but almost truthful. Hope paused as she waited for the bus, her thoughts running towards the news broadcast of her 'accident'. People vaguely recognized her from it, but no one could pin point it was her who had crawled from the wreckage of the Honda, or that she had been rescued by mutants. Hope believed her father's influence had something to do with it along with Charles' own powers. Hope hated it when daddy came to the rescue. Shaking her head Hope climbed aboard the bus, paid the fair and sat near the back. Hope liked to do things on her own, but now. Hope cast a glance towards her hands, maybe there was somethings that others could help her with. Once Charles had called her to his office, and probed into her mind, looking for what he called, the Trigger. Hope understood the theory behind it, there was a 'switch' that was triggered by the need to survive, when the 'switch' was flipped it would turn on the X-gene and the power. When I was attacked, Hope thought, I felt a little jolt that was the signal. She'd lied to Charles during the session, he'd asked her to go over the attack and Hope had gone from detail to detail, but she'd been selective. I didn't mention the broken ankle, Hope thought, twisting her ankle. She had been healed, almost completely, but she hadn't hurt anyone. Hope took a deep breath, closing off the part of her brain that was focusing on the attack.

Hope stepped off the bus and smiled up at the imposing facade of Charity Hospital. Hope felt her heart pick up the pace as she stepped through the front doors. Instantly Hope felt more at home with chaos running around her, still unspotted Hope just absorbed the air and feelings around her.

"Oh my Lord!" Hope turned when she heard Berry's astonished exclamation. "Is that you Dr. Chandler?"

"It's so good to see you, Berry!" Hope rushed forwards and caught the nurse in a hug. "Oh, I needed a break!"

"Teenagers were always the hardest to treat," Berry shook her head. "Now look, why don't you go hide behind the counter and just chill, hmm?" And she was off, and Hope was off also. She slid easily behind the desk, calling out hellos to passing nurses and staff. Good to be home, Hope thought, leaning her elbows against the counter top.

------

"Who do you think you are?" Kitty yelled, causing Lance to stumble backwards a few steps. He always expected these fights, they happened after the Brotherhood and the X-men clashed, every time. Normally, Lance would placate Kitty with some tough boy charm, while mentally praying she didn't walk away for good.

"Oh come on, Kitty, can't you show a little sympathy? I just got back on my feet," Lance tried his most charming tone, but that caused Kitty to bristle.

"You just got back on your feet? Do you have any idea what kind of funk, Doc Hope as been in since you and... and your pals pulled your little stunt?" Lance had seen Kitty mad before, most of the time he found it utterly... sexy, but this version of angry Kitty was more terrifying than hot.

"Look, we were just following orders," Lance pitched his voice low, there were people standing not to far off, and their ears were turned towards his conversation with Kitty. "Can't we talk about this somewhere else? Maybe at a better time?"

"No, Lance," but Kitty lowered her voice, but you'd have to be blind to miss the anger in her eyes, "What does Mystique want with Doc Hope?"

"You think I'm going to tell you?" Lance might let his feeling for Kitty get in the way of his sometimes loyalty to the Brotherhood, but when Mystique had gave them her yelling fit after losing the Doc, Lance had the impression that this was more serious than it seemed.

"Yes," and Kitty stood toe to toe with him, glaring right into his eyes, "Because Doc Hope can't defend herself from the likes of you and your friends."

"I don't know what this is about," Lance said through gritted teeth, "She didn't tell us why, just keep an eye on the doctor."

"Kitty," Summer's, Lancer groaned, and turned towards what he thought of as his arch rival. "We've got a problem." Summer's shot Lance a look of disgust and hate, "Charles can't find the Doctor." Lance groaned inwardly as Kitty shot him another one of the death looks. "Let's go." Lance walked Kitty walk away, looking up at Summer's and wasn't surprised that the ground began to shake and tremble. It wasn't Summer's Lance was mad at, Mystique had some explaining to do.

------

"Hope, I'm so glad you're here," Dr. Dominguez said from behind Hope. Hope turned and smiled at the fellow doctor, and her friend, "I just got off my shift, want to get brunch with me?"

"Of course, Rodger, I've got nothing but time," Hope said, spring up from the stool she was sitting on and picking up her shoulder bag.

"Great, we'll head over to the little cafe down the street." Dr. Dominguez shucked off his jacket, tossed in under the counter and started towards the door.

"Wait, don't you want to punch out?" Hope asked, quickly following after him.

"I've got some loose change on me, come on!" Hope wondered what was up with Dr. Dominguez. Normally he was laid back, so calm Hope recalled that the staff use to make jokes about how if he relaxed anymore he'd be dead.

"Are you under investigation by risk management or something, Rog, because you really seem out of it." Hope caught up with the taller, longer legged doctor, "Or were you just with a tough patient?"

"I just worked a rough shift, that's all." Dr. Dominguez seemed to notice Hope's struggle to keep up with him and slowed down, "Sorry to take it out on you." Dr. Dominguez slipped his arm around Hope's shoulders and smiled. "Tell me about your new job."

"Oh, well it's a nice place to work. The pace is more sedate than when I worked at Charity." Lies, Hope thought, all lies! The pace was sometimes more fascinating, and often more frantic than at Charity, but lately Hope had a slower pace. Without Logan kicking around the students there wasn't much but the occasional sprain, and large bruise.

"What's wrong?" He must have picked up Hope's quick sigh.

"Oh, nothing. Just nice to see you is all." Hope smiled quickly, if it was a little forced, Dr. Dominguez pretended not to notice. "So, what's on your plate for this year?"

"Just a little bit of everything," He turned Hope towards an alley between two buildings "This is a short cut. I'm thinking about moving to plastic surgery, more money you know."

"You just want to move to where it's warm," Hope tried to joke, but she was feeling unease as the street noise fell away, and there was no one back here but the two of them. Maybe Logan's paranoia was getting to her, Hope wondered, only half listening to Dr. Dominguez's chatter. But try as she might, Hope couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, but it was too late. Two men stepped out in front of their path, two men behind.

"Stay back," Hope threw an arm out to stop her before Dr. Dominguez could make the mistake of letting his temper get the better of him. But it wasn't Dr. Dominguez Hope's arm came in contact with this was someone completely different. Her skin was blue, her hair red, and her outfit black. "What? Where's Rodger?"

"Never here," the woman laughed, a cold and chilling sound, "Now, Doctor, some one has a few questions to ask you."

"I don't even know who you are," Hope challenged tossing her head back defiantly, "Why do you think I will go with you?" One of the men stepped forward, and Hope recognized him. He had attacked the down town area, had caused an alarm in the Institute, and now he was face to face with Hope. Sabretooth.

"You don't have much of a choice," And Hope admitted she didn't. In her study of the men in front of her, she had forgotten the men behind, and one of them took the time to plunge a syringe into the base of Hope's neck. The world around her was slowly going black, vaguely Hope had a thought they might have used potassium cyanide and prayed she wouldn't die.

------

Author's Note: Blah, blah, blah. Tee hee, hee, I'm nuts aren't I? Just trying to work off nerves from starting college. Sigh, I'm a freshman again.

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	11. Chapter 11

A New Hope

Chapter Eleven

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: You think by now I would have something to say here.

------

The ground underneath Hope pitched, rolled and thundered. She closed her eyes tighter against a pounding headache and nauseous stomach. What had happened to her? She wondered, curling tighter into a ball. Whatever she was on hit a bump and threw her into the air. When she landed, Hope remembered. Rodger had tricked her, but it wasn't really Rodger at all, it was some woman. Blue skin, red hair, black outfit, Hope remembered. She'd been drugged and now where was she? She obviously wasn't in the alleyway, because alleyways didn't go ka-thunk, ka-thunk or move. Slowly she opened one eye, casting a glance around her. I'm in a boxcar, Hope thought with a start. Moonlight spilled in through the wooden slats, illuminating spots around the car. There was nothing but a few boxes and Hope in the boxcar, which she didn't know how to take. She tried to push herself up only to discover her hands were tied behind her, and so were her feet. Well, Hope thought, what a silly thing to do, it's not like I could go anywhere. Hope sighed, closed her eyes again and began to recite medical text. She had learned that this calmed her down, and she wanted to make sure that she didn't give into the panic that was circling around her heart. She had to stay calm, focused, so she could help herself escape or live longer. Think about liver transplants, think about trauma surgery, anything, Hope chanted to herself, and slowly while thinking about all the nerves you had to line up while reattaching a finger she fell back asleep.

------

"Mr. Chandler, please stay calm," Hank said, watching Marcus Chandler pace the front entry of the Institute. He had shown up along with Mary Chandler, Hope's mother, as soon as he'd been informed Hope was missing. Charles had been the one to discover Hope was missing through a premonition, and instantly the Institute had come to life. While Hank had informed the Chandlers that their daughter had been taken he didn't tell them that it was a mutant intent on destroying humanity that had done it. Instead he had thrown on a holo-watch and waited for the Chandlers to arrive. Now that both were here, the team had moved to the underground portion of the house and Hank was left to calm the worried family.

"Stay calm? Stay calm?" Marcus Chandler's old-fashioned Southern accent flowed angrily through air, "My baby girl is missing!" Marcus was a tall man, almost six five with snow-white hair and a mustache that curled slightly at the ends.

"Marcus," Mary Chandler was sitting calmly in an armchair, her small hands folded together on her lap, "If you sit I believe Hank will tell us what he knows." Mary was much smaller than her husband, with the same white hair as her husband, classically shaped. She had always been more level headed than her husband, but underneath her clam exterior, Hank knew that she was just as panicked as Marcus.

"You know something?" Marcus asked, sitting on the armrest of the chair Mary was sitting in.

Hank sighed, "What we know is very little. Hope went to Charity to visit her friends there, when last seen she was going to lunch with a fellow doctor. It turns out that it was an imposter Hope went to lunch with, the real doctor was found in his apartment, bound and gagged."

"Is the doctor alright?" Mary asked, taking her husband's hand.

"He's fine," Hank reassured them, "His story is that his land lord came in and then struck him from behind. The police believe that the land lord was also an imposter."

"Any idea where Hope may be?" Marcus asked.

"Not yet, but the police are looking. I assume you're going to talk to them after here?"

"Yes, it should have been our first stop, but we came here instead," Mary shrugged, "Thank you Hank."

"I'm always happy to help, Mrs. Chandler, Mr. Chandler." Mary got up from her chair and hugged Hank, "If I learn anything important at all, I'll call you."

Marcus held out his hand, "You've always been a good friend to Hope." Hank took his offered hand and shook it.

"It's good to see you both again," Hank said, leading them to the door and watching as the drove down the drive way and through the gate. Once the gate had closed again, Hank ripped the watch from his wrist and made his way to the elevator. He didn't feel like he deserved the gratitude of the Chandlers, what had he done to protect Hope? Nothing, he'd thought there'd been more time to prepare, but Magneto and Mystique had jumped the gun and grabbed Hope before he could even notice she'd left for the day. Hank wished he could go back to the morning, make the suggestion to spend the day with Hope, but instead he'd thought about his work around the Institute. Hank sighed as the elevator doors opened and he stepped into the kitchen where the students who weren't on the search for Hope were waiting for news. The X-men were the ones searching, along with Charles who was using Cerebro to try and track Hope, but everyone else was left waiting.

"They're gone," Hank said when everyone turned towards him, "And nothing new." The students sighed and went back to waiting.

------

When Hope woke again the train had stopped, it was still dark outside and Hope was still tied together, but she didn't feel sick anymore. Now she felt like she had to take action, there wasn't anyone in the car with her, and it didn't sound like there was anyone waiting outside, so Hope had a chance. First she had to get the ties off her feet. Arching back Hope tried to reach the knot on her feet with her fingers. Almost, almost, Hope thought, just barely reaching the knot. She bent even further back and felt her shoulder muscles pull, but she had her hands on the knot. Her fingers flying frantically, Hope worked at the knot until she kicked her feet free. Quickly she rolled onto her knees and using the wall behind her as a balance shimmied her way to her feet. Once she was standing Hope tried to reach the knot that tied her hands, but just the tips of her fingers brushed it and she couldn't get a good hold. Giving up on the knot Hope began to hesitantly make her way towards what looked like the outline of a door. Hopefully it's not lock, Hope thought, finding her way by poking her toe in front of her to make sure she didn't run into anything and give away that she was making an attempt at an escape. When Hope reached what she thought was the door, she squinted looking for a lock of some sorts. Unbelievably there was no lock on the inside, which Hope had expected. Thank you God, Hope thought, using her shoulder to try and slide the door open. The door gave a large rusty groan then suddenly jerked open, spilling Hope outside. She landed on her shoulder, gasping as she felt her collarbone snap. She laid there for a second, blinking away tears brought by the pain before rolling to her knees again and slowly getting to her feet. Now where to go? She wondered, looking down the rows created by the parked trains. Okay, don't think, Hope told herself, feel. She went to her left, running as quickly as she could with her broken collarbone and her tied hands. She must have run down fourteen cars when she heard footsteps and whistling.

"Is some one there?" Hope called as she made her way towards it, "Please I need help!" Hope turned and ran into the whistling man.

"Well now little lady," He said, grabbing hold of Hope's arms, "Where are you headed in such a hurry?" Hope screamed as the man's face morphed back into the woman with blue skin and red hair. Hope ripped herself away and stumbled back.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Hope asked, trying to stay one step away from the woman.

"I'm whoever I want to be, but most people call me Mystique, and what I want from you, Doctor, is to shut up." Mystique lunged for her and Hope turned to run. She stopped dead in her tracks as she came face to face with the whole Brotherhood and the four men from the alleyway. There was only one figure she didn't recognize a man in red and purple, but it was easy to tell he was the leader. Could this be Magneto? Hope wondered, trying to stay between the wall of mutants in front of her and the single one behind her.

"Doctor Chandler, we finally meet," Said the man in red taking a single step forward. "I'm almost disappointed this will have to be our last."

------

Charles sat patiently working with Cerebro as he tried to find Dr. Chandler. As an inactive mutant he had to track her as a human, but he still hadn't found her. Systematically he'd been widening his search area, three miles, six miles, nine miles, ever steadily reaching farther and farther. Now he was searching almost two hundred and twelve miles of area for the Doctor.

"_Logan!"_ Charles' telepathy reached for the man and then he felt her. The doctor was only twenty miles from where Logan was. There was a chance.

"_What, Charles?"_ Logan thought back.

"_Go west, twenty miles, you'll find a train yard. Doctor Chandler has been taken by Magneto,"_ Charles ordered, _"The X-men and I will be arriving soon."_

"_Right."_ Charles felt Logan turned and started west. Charles removed the helmet to Cerebro, "X-men assemble in the hanger, I've found her."

------

Hope was terrified beyond belief, but she wasn't giving in to it. Even though she was facing down a man who had just threatened to kill her and wanted to curl up and cry. She wasn't going to do give in, she was going to try and get away, just because she had to try.

"What do you want from me?" Hope asked, trying to stand her ground even as those gathered closed ranks on her.

"It's very simple Doctor, you stop your work and we will leave you alone."

The light bulb went on in Hope's mind, this man in red was Magneto, the man who had been after her, "You can't stop my work."

"Of course I can, Doctor," Magneto said, throwing his arm out to the right and watching in shock and horror Hope stared as a boxcar was ripped from its tracks and the other cars with were coupled to it. It hovered there almost ten feet in the air, "I'll give you one last chance, stop now and forever, or else." Panic ripped through Hope as Magneto floated the car over and hung it above her.

"Some one will carry on after me," Hope said defiantly, "Mr. Xavier, or Hank will or someone else will. You're trying to stop the inevitable and you can't!" Hope cringed, expecting the car to drop and her to be dead any second. Instead she was jerked off her feet, tackled to the ground and finally heard a thundering crash as she looked up.

"Logan?" She asked incredulous but suddenly he was lifted off of her and thrown to the side. Logan growled as he was pressed against the side of a boxcar. Hope looked towards Magneto who was holding his hands out towards Logan, there was a grim smile on his face. Hope stumbled to her feet, a huge BAM ripped through the night air and the area was illuminated. Hope looked up, but couldn't see anything against the glare of the light, which suited Hope just fine. She took off at a stumbling run, throwing her weight into the charge she caught Magneto in the chest. It hurt her shoulder, but she heard Logan drop to the ground behind her, of course Magneto reacted just as quickly, grabbing the front of Hope's shirt and lifting her off the ground.

"What do you think you can do to me?" He growled, "You're a human."

Hope jerked her knee up, catching Magneto in the chin, "I can do that." Magneto's hand let go of her shirt, and moved to her throat. Hope kicked and struggled against his hold, trying to suck in breaths as his hand got tighter and tighter. Her chest burned, her eyes watered and it got harder and harder to think, but Hope kept trying to kick out and break free. Just as her eyes started to flutter closed, and her mind started to go blank Hope felt her skin start to burn. Unexpectedly white light flared up around Hope, engulfing her. A scream ripped from her throat and Hope was lost in the light.

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Author's Note: Man, I remember when I first wrote this chapter, I hadn't written anything for weeks, maybe enough a month, but then I couldn't stop writing. Now, I can't stop rewriting. Odd huh?

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	12. Chapter 12

A New Hope

Chapter Twelve

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: Bored, again, so hi, again.

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The waiting room of Charity's ICU was packed with the strangest assortment of people it had ever seen. Sitting in one corner was the man every hospital executive wanted to see in their office, Charles Xavier, and surrounding him were a mass of teenagers, with only three adults to keep an eye on them. When he strode through the door the group froze, but Charles took the lead, coming to a halt at the man's feet.

"Mr. Xavier, I didn't expect to see you here," Police chief Josh Masterson looked down at Charles with a slight frown, "What brings you here?"

"Dr. Chandler is under my employment, and a friend to me," Charles said, "We're waiting for news on her condition."

"How did you hear about this?"

"It was Mr. Logan here that found Dr. Chandler," Charles motioned to Logan where he leaned against the wall.

The chief turned towards Logan, frowning, "You found Dr. Chandler?"

"Yeah," Logan grunted, turning towards the police chief.

"You just happened to be near the train yard where the kidnappers had taken Dr. Chandler," Everyone could hear the suspicion in the Chief's voice, "Why were you in the train yard, Mr. Logan?"

"My bike broke down, I was looking for a phone," Logan said casually.

"The gate to the train yard was closed and locked, Mr. Logan, how'd you get in?"

"There was a missing slat in the fence line, I ducked in through there."

"That's breaking and entering, Mr. Logan."

"I'll pay for his bail, Chief," Charles said interrupting, "Do you have anymore questions for Mr. Logan?"

"I have a lot more. And when you found the doctor, did you see anyone else?"

"No one but the Doc."

"You must have broken into the office also, Mr. Logan to call an ambulance."

"Look, I found the Doc and did what I had to, to get her the help she needed, Officer." Logan growled.

"Mr. Xavier," The chief turned back towards Charles, frowning, "I'll want Mr. Logan to come down to the station to make a statement." Someone cleared their throat and everyone turned to look at the doctor standing in the doorway, "Are you Dr. Chandler's doctor?"

"Yes," The doctor took a step into the small space available in the waiting room, "What is it you need to know Officer?"

"We'll talk some where private." The chief steered the doctor by his arm away from the waiting room and out of ease dropping range. Logan growled slightly, and went back to where he had been leaning against the wall.

"Easy Logan, he's just doing his job," Charles soothed, watching the doctor talk with the chief.

"Right." Logan grunted.

"Come on, Professor," Kurt sidled up to Charles's chair, "What are they saying?"

"We'll learn soon enough, Kurt, be patient."

"Hank!" Now everyone turned back towards the door, this time the Chandlers were the ones standing in the doorway.

"Marcus, Mary," Hank stepped forward, the holo-watch concealing his identity.

"The police just called, they said they found her?" Mary asked hopefully, taking Hank's hand.

"Yes, Mary, she's alright," Hank said, leading Mary towards a seat.

"Any word on how she is?" Marcus asked, following his wife.

"Not yet," Charles moved forward, offering his hand, "I'm Charles Xavier, your daughter's employer."

"Marcus Chandler, my wife Mary Chandler." Again everyone swung their attention towards where someone cleared their throat. The chief and the doctor were back and watching everyone.

"Mr. Chandler, Mrs. Chandler, when you've finished talking with the doctor, I would like to speak with you," the Chief said and then took a step back, waiting patiently.

"How is she, Doctor?" Marcus asked, staying near his wife.

"Your daughter is fine, completely unharmed, but she is unconscious. When she came in her heartbeat was erratic, but that's leveled out and she's breathing on her own. Visiting hours start in fifteen minutes you can see her then. If you have any questions, I'm Dr. Adams, just ask a nurse for me."

"Thank you Doctor," Marcus said, "Where would you like to talk Officer?"

"You can use my office." The Chandlers rose, and followed Dr. Adams as he lead them down the hallway until they were out of sight.

"The Doc's alright," Sighed Evan, leaning back in his chair.

"But she hasn't woken up yet," Kitty said, "Professor, what's wrong?"

"It's alright Kitty, Dr. Chandler just needs time to rest," Charles calmly explained.

"Can we stay until we can see her?" Jean asked looking down the hallway, which Dr. Adams had disappeared down.

"Let her family have tonight, Jean, we'll come back tomorrow."

------

Hank did visit the next day, complete with flowers and holo-watch. It was the most time he'd ever spent in one, but it was worth it. Hope looked to be asleep when he stepped inside the room, but Hank knew that it wasn't exactly like sleeping. "How is she doing today?" He asked the nurse who had accompanied him to Hope's room.

"The neurosurgeon looked her over this morning, she's making slight progress on the test, and they're going to run her up to CAT scan later today." Even though Hank was not family the staff knew he was connected to Charles Xavier and treated him the same as they would Charles.

"So, she's making a steady recovery, that good. Thank you nurse."

"If you need anything, Mr. McCoy, you know the drill." And with that the nurse left Hank alone with Hope. He was always surprised at how relaxed Hope looked, lying there her heart beat shown in a beeping monotone.

"How are you today, Hope?" Hank asked, believe the theory that unconscious people could hear what was said to them, even though they couldn't reply. "I've brought Yeats to read today." Hank settled in to read. At the end of the visiting hours Hank tucked the book under his arm, patted Hope's hand and kissed her forehead.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Hope. Be well."

------

Logan didn't realize he was on his way to the hospital until he was standing in the elevator on the way to recovery. The Doc was still out cold, but she was completely stable and a bunch of other medical terms that he didn't understand. All he knew was that it was a week and the Doc was still not awake. He had halfway convinced himself to turn back when the elevator stopped, but he took that step off and started towards the Doc's room. He'd been the only one who so far hadn't visited the Doc, he'd been too busy talking with the nosy cops, then catching up with the work he'd missed, but those were just excuses. He'd been staying away just because, but now, he guessed it was time to visit. The nurse led him through the twisting maze of hallways and rooms, leading him to a corner room that was almost as large as the Doc's room back at the Institute.

"If you need anything, Mr. Logan, just press that button on the head board and someone will come to your aid," The nurse said, smiling politely. Logan felt completely out of place, looking down at the Doc. Still just acting on instinct he turned and closed the door behind the nurse.

"You know, Doc," He started, staying towards the door and away from where she lay, "Everyone's wondering when you're gonna wake up." He crossed the floor, moving to the window to look out over the sprawling city, "The squirts miss you too, just about everyone does." He ran a finger over the windowsill, and turned to look down at the Doc.

"So, when are you thinking about waking up?" The Doc didn't move and Logan sighed. He was talking to an unconscious person, what's the point? He'd been unconscious enough to know that you couldn't really hear anything, much less remember it when you woke up, but still he felt compelled to brace his arms on the guard rails to the Doc' s hospital bed and look down at her.

"Come on, Doc, the kids need you back." He reached a hand out and covered the Doc's, "I need time to figure out what's going on here." Logan stood there in silence for a while, the sighed in defeat. He lifted his hands and turned to go when a loud groan split the air. He turned back and the Doc looked at him with filmy eyes.

"Logan?"

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Author's Note: Getting tired of these pointless notes? I hope you are because I'm going to keep writing them!

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	13. Chapter 13

A New Hope

Chapter Thirteen

By: Lily Handle

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Author's Note: While I've been packing for college, still in a cast for my broken ankle mind you, I've been working on this. Why? Because I was bored, and frustrated thinking up a new idea for the Hope Series, so I finished this in one manic writing spree. Enjoy!

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Hope looked out the window, looking out over Bayville, her mind blissfully blank for once. It seemed like she hadn't had a moment to herself since she'd woken up to see a startled Logan gaping at her. First there had been the doctors, asking her how she felt, if anything hurt and other question that gave Hope a head ach. Then there were the cops, who wanted to know who had taken her, what had happened and other question that Hope had had to lie through her teeth to answer. Her parents had come next, smothering her in hugs, kisses and tears, which was a nice break from having to talk. She'd gotten a little rest, per the doctor's orders, but now she had her next set of visitors in her room. The students and staff of the Institute had crammed into her room, being careful of the flowers and other gifts Hope's friends and family had sent her. She was happy to see them, they were like a second family to her, but she was reluctant to talk with all of them standing around watching her.

"It's good to see you all," She said, turning to face them and lean her back against the window, "I can't believe they let all of you in at once."

"Have Professor, will travel," Kurt said from where he sat on the floor. Hope laughed along with everyone else, and it felt good. She spent all of the visiting hour catching up with the week and a few days she'd missed while lying unconscious in the hospital bed. It seemed that the Infirmary needed to be cleaned and organized again, that her car had been fixed, and her room was waiting for her to return. When the visiting time was up the nurse chased everyone out, and Hope sat gratefully down on the bed. It seemed she got tired so quickly these days, but she knew that would go away as she recovered.

"How are we today Dr. Chandler?" Hanna, her nurse asked, picking up Hope's wrist to check her pulse.

"Just fine, Hanna, but I'm itching to get home," Hope replied.

"You're suppose to get rest," Hanna said, releasing Hope's wrist and then shinning a pen light in her eyes, "Follow the light. You're never going to get rest with that bunch."

Hope followed the light with her eyes, "I know, but they're very sweet. Did you see the mass of flowers they brought in?"

Hanna chuckled, "Honey you'd have to be blind to miss all those flowers."

"I know," Hope looked towards the massive array of flowers that she'd placed in one corner of her room. It seemed that everyday she was out Hank had brought her a small tasteful bouquet, her mother had sent a huge spilling array of honey suckle a few days after arriving in Bayville and then had sent another huge one of daisies when she'd gone home. Hope didn't know what to do with the mix-matched set the Institute had given her, and the few others her old co-workers had sent. She didn't get it, from what the doctors had told her she wasn't in that serious of a condition. While Hanna finished her check up Hope ruefully rubbed at her collar bone, _The door gave a large rusty groan then suddenly jerked open, spilling Hope outside. She landed on her shoulder, gasping as she felt her collarbone snap, _she remembered the sharp, swift kick of pain from that, but when she'd been brought in it hadn't been broken. Nothing was wrong with me but an abnormal heart rhythm and the neurosurgeon said that had a slight swelling in my brain, but it left no permanent damage, Hope thought, what had happened. She remembered Magneto's hands tightening around her neck, then the world went white, she had felt hot all over, and then nothing until she woke up in the hospital. Hope laid back down in bed, staring at the ceiling, I need answers, she thought. The people who had the answers, those from the Institute had left and seemed determined not to remind her about what happened to her. Hope appreciated their concern, but she was okay with what happened, or she would be when someone gave her an answer.

"Dr. Chandler?" Hope sat up in bed to see Hanna standing in the doorway, "Mr. Xavier wants to talk with you, and your doctor said it was okay, but I thought I should check with you first."

Ask and you shall receive, Hope thought, "Sure, Hanna, let him in." Hope perched on the edge of her bed, waiting as Charles came in, stopping in front of her.

"Now, if it gets to be too much for you, Doctor, just ring for me and I'll get Mr. Xavier to leave," Hanna said before leaving, softly closing the door behind her.

"I didn't think you'd wake up, Doctor," Charles said, looking up at Hope.

"I'm glad I did, Mr. Xavier."

Charles smiled slightly at her, "But you still have something on your mind."

Hope looked away for a second, glancing out the window again, "I need to know what happened to me, I blacked out and I can't remember what happened after that." Hope looked back to Charles, "You can tell me can't you?"

"Are you sure, Doctor?" Hope nodded, and Charles moved forward, pressing his hand against Hope's forehead. "Relax, and let me in."

------

She saw the train yard from above, and she knew somehow that she was seeing everything from Charles's memories. She could see the battle raging and recognized Scott, Jean and Kitty just to name a few, but mostly she recognized herself. She was kicking, clawing and fighting against Magneto's hold, but she didn't seem to be getting anywhere. His hand was solidly around her neck, while she could see the fight draining out of her. Slowly her head dropped forward, her hands fell away from where they were clawing at Magneto's wrist and her legs stopped moving. Her head dropped back and Hope could see that this was the moment when everything had gone white. It was only a second before she seemed to explode, white bolts seemed to pour from her, and for a second they went helter-skelter through the train yard, before turning like some living entity towards Magneto. The combined power of the bolts hit him with enough force to have him stumbling back three steps before dropping like a rag doll to the ground. She dropped to the ground, just as limp, but the beast of blots which had been pouring from her collapsed back into her, and she was no longer still. Lying there in the dirt her body jerked and twitched violently while those around her stood as still as statues.

------

Hope jerked away from Charles, stunned by what she had seen, "You have immense power, Dr. Chandler," Charles said, watching Hope carefully.

"I…it felt like fire," Hope rubbed her arms unconsciously, "The doctor's didn't mention anything about a seizure."

"We kept it quiet, we couldn't find a way to explain it away." Hope sighed and rubbed her hands over her face.

"I'm a mutant," Hope stated, trying out the phrase. She'd known she had the gene, but she'd been a non-active mutant, until that moment in the train yard.

"I have to ask you, Dr. Chandler…Hope, would you try again? To see if you can recreate those bolts," Charles asked when Hope pulled her hands down from her face.

"I don't know how," She said dumbly.

"I'll coach you through it, Doctor," Charles looked confidently towards her, "I'm just asking you to try."

"I bet you give this speech to all the new mutants you encounter," She joked, trying to ease the tension in the room. Hope knew she could probably go back to her old life, ignoring the X-gene but she knew she wouldn't. She had to try, if only for the fact that she couldn't live her life knowing she was a mutant who had no idea of what she could do. "Tell me what I've got to do."

"Hold you hands out, palms facing each other," Charles instructed and Hope followed his order, "It's very simple, Hope, watch you hands and see the bolts in your mind's eye. Watch them jump between your fingers and control them." Hope was more focused on Charles's voice, so controlled and soothing that when the bolts actually leapt between her fingers she jumped, but the bolts stayed between her fingers.

"Wow," She said, smiling at Charles from between her hands.

"I'll let you get some rest now, Doctor, and everyone is eagerly waiting your return."

------

Magneto paced the length of the living room in the Brotherhood's house, the tension radiating off of him in waves. No one spoke, they knew that if anyone said anything at this point they'd end up on the other side of the room, in pain.

"We'll wait," He said suddenly, "The doctor can wait for now." Magneto turned and faced down those gathered in the room, "We have more important things to attend to."

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Author's Note: Now that you've read this, I suggest reading the second story, The Effects of Hope, oh and the third story as well, Hope Returns. They are also good, like this one. Read and review!

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